The Kadoorie Family and Modern Hong Kong Commerce: From Baghdad to Shanghai to the Modern Conglomerate

The Kadoorie family operates one of the most institutionally durable commercial dynasties in modern Asian business history. Originally of Baghdadi Jewish origin like the Sassoons (with whom they intermarried through the late 19th century), the Kadoorie family built its commercial presence in Shanghai and Hong Kong through the 19th and 20th centuries.

Unlike the Sassoon firm, which substantially dispersed after the 1949 Shanghai disruption, the Kadoorie commercial structure preserved continuity through the 20th-century transitions and operates today through CLP Group (one of the larger electric utilities in Asia), The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels Limited (operating the Peninsula Hotels brand), Sir Elly Kadoorie & Sons Limited (the family holding entity), and the Kadoorie Charitable Foundation.

The 19th-century commercial origin

Sir Elly Kadoorie (1867-1944) built the Kadoorie commercial presence in Hong Kong and Shanghai through the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Baghdad and arriving in Hong Kong via the Sassoon firm in the 1880s, Elly Kadoorie eventually established independent commercial operations alongside his initial Sassoon firm involvement.

The Kadoorie commercial expansion through the late 19th and early 20th centuries spanned multiple Treaty Port-era China commercial categories — rubber trading, real estate, banking, and the broader Hong Kong and Shanghai commercial environment of the period.

In 1901, Elly Kadoorie was involved in the founding of China Light and Power (later CLP Group), the electric utility serving Kowloon and the New Territories. The CLP position would become the largest single asset of the modern Kadoorie commercial structure.

The mid-20th-century transition

Sir Lawrence Kadoorie (1899-1993, later Lord Kadoorie) and his brother Sir Horace Kadoorie (1902-1995) led the Kadoorie commercial structure through the mid-20th-century transitions.

The 1941-1945 Japanese occupation of Hong Kong and the broader Asian war disrupted the Kadoorie operations substantially. The family's Shanghai operations dispersed primarily to Hong Kong following the 1949 Communist takeover, alongside the parallel dispersal of the Sassoon Shanghai operations.

Post-1945, the Kadoorie brothers rebuilt the Hong Kong operations and expanded substantially. Lord Kadoorie's institutional commitment to Hong Kong through the 1950s-1990s — through the 1967 riots, the negotiations leading to the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration on the eventual transfer of Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty, and the broader transition environment — anchored the family's continued commercial presence.

The modern commercial structure

The contemporary Kadoorie commercial structure operates through several major entities.

CLP Group (Hong Kong: 0002, also known as CLP Holdings). One of the larger electric utilities in Asia, operating across Hong Kong, mainland China, Australia (through EnergyAustralia), India, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia. The CLP position represents the largest single asset of the modern Kadoorie commercial structure.

The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels Limited (Hong Kong: 0045). Operates the Peninsula Hotels brand, with The Peninsula Hong Kong as the flagship property. The Peninsula portfolio extends across Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo, Manila, Bangkok, Beverly Hills, Chicago, New York, Paris, London, Istanbul, and Yangon (the Yangon Peninsula opened in 2024). The Peninsula Hong Kong itself, opened in 1928, is one of the most architecturally and institutionally significant hotels in Asian commercial history.

Sir Elly Kadoorie & Sons Limited. The family holding entity, privately held, which holds the family's primary equity positions and operates as the structural anchor of the broader Kadoorie commercial operations.

Kadoorie Charitable Foundation. The family's philanthropic vehicle, with substantial activity across Hong Kong, mainland China, and Israel. The Foundation's institutional activity has anchored multiple Israeli academic and educational institutions over the past several decades.

Sir Michael Kadoorie

Sir Michael Kadoorie (born 1941), the son of Lord Lawrence Kadoorie, chairs the modern Kadoorie commercial operations. His institutional leadership has spanned the 1980s through the present day across CLP, The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels Limited, and the broader Kadoorie family commercial structure.

The Israel connection

The Kadoorie family maintains substantial institutional and philanthropic activity in Israel. The Kadoorie Agricultural High School in northern Israel, founded in 1933, was one of the foundational educational institutions of pre-state Israeli agricultural education. Yitzhak Rabin (the future Prime Minister) was among the Kadoorie Agricultural High School's most prominent graduates.

Subsequent Kadoorie family philanthropic and institutional activity in Israel has continued through Sir Michael Kadoorie's stewardship.

The institutional continuity

The Kadoorie commercial structure operates as one of the longer-tenured Jewish commercial structures with institutional continuity across the 20th-century transitions. The pattern — institutional adaptation through major historical disruptions while preserving the underlying family-commercial structure — distinguishes the Kadoorie firms from the Sassoon firm trajectory and from many other historical Jewish commercial dynasties.

The modern Kadoorie commercial structure operates with institutional discipline, professional management, and the Asian-commercial-environment positioning that the family has occupied for over a century. The structure represents one of the more durable Jewish commercial entities continuing in active major-scale operation today.

The post-2020 Hong Kong environment

The 2020 Hong Kong National Security Law and the broader political-environment changes in Hong Kong have produced substantial commercial-environment shifts. The Kadoorie family operations have continued through the period without material disruption.

The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels Limited Peninsula Hotels portfolio continues to operate internationally; CLP Group's diversified geographic exposure (Hong Kong, Australia, India, China, Southeast Asia) provides operating diversification.

Source data: CLP Group and The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels Limited public filings; Sir Elly Kadoorie & Sons Limited published materials; Maisie Meyer, From the Rivers of Babylon to the Whangpoo (2003); Chiara Betta, academic work on Baghdadi merchant communities; coverage in South China Morning Post, Forbes Asia, Bloomberg, Financial Times; archival material at Hong Kong University and the Asian commercial historical collections. Data current as of Q2 2026.