Peter Lim (born 21 May 1953) is a Singaporean business magnate who was a stockbroker and an investor in
palm oil, and is now a private investor focused on healthcare, property, sports, and education.[2][3][4] In 2023, he was ranked 23rd in
Forbes' list of Singapore's 50 Richest with a net worth of US$1.9 billion.[2] He is a shareholder of English club
Salford City and the owner of Spanish
La Liga club
Valencia CF since 2014.[5][6][7][8]
In 2010, Lim won the biggest libel payout in Singapore's history in the Raffles Town Club saga.[9][10]
Early life and education
The son of a fishmonger,[11] Lim and his seven siblings grew up in a two-bedroom government flat in the
Bukit Ho Swee public housing estate.[11] Lim completed his secondary school education at the
Raffles Institution.[11] After
National Service, he went to Perth to study at the
University of Western Australia.[12] To fund his university education, Lim worked part-time doing odd jobs as a taxi driver, cook and waiter.[12]
While working at Australian fast-food chain
Red Rooster, Lim studied how businesses are started, how they grow, and how they scale up.[13]
He graduated with a degree in accounting and finance and first worked as an accountant and did some tax consultancy before going into stocks.[11]
Early career
In the early 1990s, Lim invested about US$10 million in a start-up palm-oil company,
Wilmar.[14] In 2010, Lim cashed out at the peak of commodity prices and sold his Wilmar shares for US$1.5 billion.[15]
Lim was known as the "Remisier King" (commission king) due to his success as a stockbroker in the 1980s.[16]
Lim quit the brokerage business in 1996 and became a private investor. He was able to escape the 1998 Asian Financial Crisis as he had liquidated most of his stocks and was holding cash.[citation needed]
Sports investment
Lim owns a controlling stake (83%) in Spanish La Liga club
Valencia CF,[17] a 40% stake in
Salford City F.C.,[18] stakes in British supercar maker
McLaren Automotive,[19] and Hotel Football next to
Old Trafford stadium in Manchester.[20] Since becoming majority shareholder of Valencia CF in 2014, the club has qualified for the UEFA Champions League 3 times, but also won the Copa del Rey in 2019. After six years of ownership, the club consistently underperformed and achieved some of the poorest results in its modern history.[21][22] Separately, Salford City achieved 4 promotions in 5 seasons to reach
League Two in 2019,[23] and won the delayed 2020
Papa John's Trophy.[24] In October 2021, Peter Lim co-founded ZujuGP with his son.[25]
In May 2014, Lim was designated by the Fundación Valencia CF as the buyer of 70.4% of the shares owned by the club's foundation. After months of negotiations between Lim and
Bankia (the main creditor of the club), an agreement was reached in August 2014.[27]Nuno Espírito Santo was hired as head manager on 2 July 2014, which was one of the conditions Lim had insisted on when buying the club.[28][29] This attracted attention in the media because of Espírito Santo's close relationship with the football agent
Jorge Mendes, whose first-ever client was Espírito Santo.[30][31] Lim and Mendes are also close friends and business partners.[32] Espírito Santo's first season was successful, with notable signings.[33][34][35] Valencia finished the
2014–15 season in fourth place for Champions League qualification with 77 points, just one point ahead of Sevilla after a dramatic final week, defeating
Granada 4–0.[28][36]
In 2017, the club announced club president Lay Hoon Chan had submitted her resignation and that she would be replaced by
Anil Murthy.[37] After rumours arose of Lim's attempts at selling the club, Murthy assured the fans and local media that Valencia was a long-term project for both him and Lim, and they would not consider selling the club.[38][39]
In 2021, after six seasons under Peter Lim's ownership, Valencia CF began to pay the banks, which it was financially unable to do previously.[40]
In June 2010 the Singapore Olympic Foundation (SOF) set up the SOF-Peter Lim Scholarship with a S$10 million donation from Lim. The gift is the single largest donation in Singapore from an individual towards sports development.[50] The recipients are typically students who come from financially challenged backgrounds and have demonstrated a potential to excel in their respective sports.[51] In 2019, Lim further pledged to continue supporting young local athletes for another 10 years from 2021 to 2030 by donating another S$10 million to the SOF-Peter Lim Scholarship.[52] Since the inception of the scholarship, 2642 student-athletes have received scholarships amounting to $7.2 million.[52]
Lim further committed a separate S$20 million to start a new community project focused on helping children from less privileged backgrounds, with the aim of helping them reach their potential.[52]
In 2014, Lim also endowed Nanyang Technological University with S$3 million to fund a professorship in peace studies at the
S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies to protect and promote harmony in Singapore.[53]