From Community Business to Investment Management: How a Small Golf Ball Reflects Link’s Big Vision for Sustainable Development

(This is the English translation of a Chinese advertorial ghostwritten for Link Asset Management. The original story is as follows: https://www.yinsfinance.com/article/1359721.shtml)

Since its listing in 2005, Link has completed 100 asset enhancement projects in Hong Kong, with approximately 90% delivering double-digit investment returns since the 2007/08 fiscal year.

On October 25th, at the Kai Tin Shopping Center in Hong Kong, professional golfer Terrence Ng Shing Fung bent down to warmly guide several children in sportswear on how to putt. It wasn't Ng's first time participating in community golf promotion, but for many Hong Kong residents, it was their first experience of playing golf in a shopping mall.

Ng is one of Hong Kong's leading young golfers. He has won the Hong Kong Amateur Golf Championship three times, turned professional in 2020, and helped the Hong Kong team win a bronze medal in the men's team event at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou.

Earlier this October, Ng earned his place in the 63rd Link Hong Kong Open in 2024 with an impressive six-under-par performance in the qualifying event. His caddie in the final round of qualifying was Taichi Kho, one of Hong Kong's star golfers and the gold medallist in the men's individual golf event at the Asian Games. Both Ng and Kho will compete against top players from around the world in the main event of the Link Hong Kong Open, to be held from November 21 to 24.

(Link kicking off the "Link Golf Experience Day" at its Kai Tin Shopping Center in Hong Kong, with George Hongchoy, Link's Group CEO, third from the left.)

The shopping-mall golf promotion Ng took part in was the "Link Golf Experience Day", organised by Hong Kong–headquartered Link Asset Management Limited. As a real estate investment manager in the Asia-Pacific region with a strong track record in commercial real estate and financial investments, Link would not seem to have much to do with golf. But in an interview with Yinshi Finance, George Hongchoy, Link's Group Chief Executive Officer, shared the story behind Link's connection with the sport and how it inspires the company's business operations and investment management.

Link's Commitment to Sports

Golf has deep roots in Hong Kong, with the first Hong Kong Open held in 1959. Today, this long-running tournament — the city’s oldest professional sporting event and Asia’s second-oldest professional golf tournament — is embracing new opportunities. From 2024 to 2026, Link will be the tournament’s title sponsor and official partner, with the event rebranded as the “Link Hong Kong Open”.

“The Link Hong Kong Open is one of the most important professional sporting championships in the Asia-Pacific region and a stop on the Asian Tour,” said George Hongchoy. “When we learned that the Hong Kong Golf Club and the Asian Tour hoped to further promote golf across Hong Kong, we immediately realised the potential for great synergy through a partnership with Link.”

(Pictured: George Hongchoy, Link’s Group CEO, saying that Hong Kong should be proud of its golfing culture and strength, and that Link hopes to do all it can to promote the sport.)

This is not Link’s first connection with sport. As a company whose core business in Hong Kong is community retail, Link has long used its network of livelihood malls in the city to actively support community sports. For instance, Link organised “Tour de Link”, an annual indoor cycling relay race that attracted nearly 15,000 participants, 35 district organisations and 168 teams across Hong Kong in 2024, setting records in all three categories. The company has also supported charity running programmes for grassroots young people in Hong Kong and provided venues in its malls for community basketball games and other emerging sports events.

(Pictured: Link launching the 2024 “Tour de Link” cycling challenge at its TKO Spot mall, with world champion cyclist Wong Kam-po on the right.)

In November 2025, Hong Kong’s golf scene will welcome another landmark sporting occasion. The 15th National Games will be held in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area, with the internationally renowned Fanling Golf Course serving as the venue for the golf competitions. The 2025 Link Hong Kong Open will also act as a test event for the National Games’ golf competitions. Just a week before the opening of the 2024 Link Hong Kong Open, Hong Kong’s Major Sports Events Committee also awarded the tournament the “M Mark” as a major international sports event, noting that it will showcase the city’s ability to host world-class sporting events and further cement Hong Kong’s status as a city of major sports events.

“Hong Kong’s golfing culture and strength are something the whole city can be proud of, and Link hopes to do its best to promote the tournament and make golf more popular at the grassroots level,” said Hongchoy. In recent years, a growing number of young Hong Kong golfers have appeared on the stages of the world’s professional tours and achieved success, and Link hopes to play its part in ensuring that this positive momentum can continue sustainably over the long term.

Hongchoy noted that to achieve this goal, golf needs a broader grassroots base and must attract more interest from the younger generation. For young people growing up in a rapidly changing society, sport offers valuable life skills and career possibilities, while for committed golfers, it can even open the door to competing on the world’s elite tours. For those aspiring to compete, Link believes that long-term investment from all sectors of society is essential to provide the best support and opportunities for continuous learning and improvement, ultimately helping them reach a level where they can compete with the world’s top players. “If we have the chance to cheer for Hong Kong’s golf development, and to support and safeguard the dreams of our athletes and young people, then why not?” he said.

"Third Space" in Community Business

Link’s daily operations often revolve around two concepts: “placemaking” and “sustainable development”. For a real estate investment trust manager known for its expertise in commercial real estate investment and operations, these two ideas are like the other side of the coin, adding a sense of social responsibility and a human touch to a business that is, by nature, commercially driven.

Hongchoy said that for Hong Kong residents living in a city where space is at a premium, shopping malls are not only places for shopping and meeting daily needs, but also important spaces where people can gather with family and friends and share their feelings; to some extent, they have already become an extension of home for many in Hong Kong. “That is why, while upgrading our properties and carrying out asset enhancement works, Link is also committed to putting the concept of placemaking into practice,” he said. “We aim to transform traditional malls into richer ‘third spaces’ that meet people’s everyday social needs, create lively gathering points for neighbourhoods and strengthen the sense of community among nearby residents.”

Take this year’s Link Hong Kong Open as an example. Over four weekends from late October to early November, Link held a “Link Golf Experience Day” roadshow across four of its malls in Hong Kong to raise public awareness of golf. During the events, the malls set up multiple free golf game zones suitable for all age groups, including golf simulators and educational displays, to encourage active participation. In addition, the company worked with its malls in Mainland China and Singapore to promote and popularise golf in their local communities.

(Pictured: Link setting up several free golf game zones in its community malls in Hong Kong for people of all ages to encourage active public participation.)

Another highlight of this year’s tournament is that Hong Kong’s renowned Fanling Golf Course will name each of its 18 holes after one of the city’s 18 administrative districts. Hongchoy said this arrangement is highly meaningful not only for the game of golf in Hong Kong but also for the city itself.

He explained that the public has long tended to see golf as an “elite sport” that feels far removed from ordinary people’s lives, but in fact, many sports in their early days carried different “halos” or misunderstandings before eventually developing into mass sports deeply rooted in everyday communities. By promoting golf in community malls, Link hopes to give neighbourhood residents a more direct and convenient way to experience a sport that may appear “elite”, allowing golf to “fly into the homes of ordinary people”.

“Link is a commercial company, and our non-discretionary community malls, which focus on essential daily-needs retail, are Hong Kong residents’ ‘everyday partners’,” said Hongchoy. “As consumers place increasing emphasis on experience and novelty, promoting golf and other sports in our malls is not only one of the ways in which Link creates social value, but also a means of enhancing the customer experience and strengthening loyalty. This process, in which commercial planning and human warmth interact positively, is also an innovative way to put ESG into practice and achieve sustainable development.”

Shared Essence of Golf and Investment

Link manages Link REIT, Asia's largest real estate investment trust, with a primary focus on the dynamic Asia-Pacific market and a diversified portfolio of real estate investments in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Singapore, Australia and the UK across the retail, office and logistics sectors. Hongchoy noted that this partnership with a top international sporting event underlines Link’s evolution into a regional investment platform which, as a Hong Kong-headquartered real estate investment manager, is both deeply rooted in the local community and able to capture international opportunities.

As the Group CEO of Link, Hongchoy still makes time for sports despite his busy schedule, and he is also an avid golfer. Last year, he was invited to take part in the Aramco Team Series held in Hong Kong, competing alongside some of the world’s best golfers. In his view, sports — especially golf — and real estate investment share a common essence: playing golf is not only a form of leisure and recreation, but also a way to gain insights into life and work and, more importantly, to cultivate resilience and character.

(Pictured: Link's Group CEO George Hongchoy taking part in the Aramco Team Series in 2023, competing alongside some of the world's best golfers.)

Hongchoy further illustrated this idea with the various golf clubs used by players. Each type of club serves a different purpose and is used in different situations. For instance, the driver symbolises strength and power; the fairway wood, which is often the hardest to control, represents professional-level skill; a wide range of irons offers versatility and flexibility in shot-making; the wedge comes into play as a “firefighter” when facing challenges; and the putter, used in the final stage of the game, reflects a player’s patience and precision.

“This is very much in line with Link's investment style and philosophy. As a professional real estate investor covering the entire Asia-Pacific region, we not only need to identify investment opportunities correctly, but also have the drive and capability to mobilise resources,” said Hongchoy. “We must also demonstrate to the market, through our professional investment skills and track record, that the portfolios we build have the resilience to ride out market turbulence. At the same time, we need to stay agile in the face of various challenges, maintaining stable performance while retaining growth momentum and seizing investment opportunities with precision when they arise.”

Link has consistently delivered solid performance to investors. Since its listing in 2005, Link has completed 100 asset enhancement projects in Hong Kong, with about 90% achieving double-digit returns on investment since the 2007/2008 fiscal year. Since 2015, the company’s diversification strategy has also produced significant results, with assets — including those in Singapore and Mainland China — now contributing substantial revenue to the company.

(Pictured: The basement at Link CentralWalk in Shenzhen, where an asset enhancement project completed in July 2024 led to record-breaking growth in footfall and tenant sales and a 43.8% return on investment.)

At the same time, the company has maintained annual growth in its total distributable income and has consistently distributed 100% of its distributable income to unitholders as dividends, exceeding the minimum 90% dividend payout ratio required by Hong Kong regulations. Many well-known international long-term institutional investors, including BlackRock, JPMorgan and State Street Global Advisors, have held Link's units for many years, either on behalf of clients or through proprietary positions. A number of international sell-side research institutions, such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and HSBC, continue to rate Link as “overweight” or “buy”, even in the current complex and challenging market environment.

Hongchoy noted that Link has a proven track record in real estate investment management built up over nearly 20 years and will continue to explore new growth potential, while remaining committed to delivering stable and resilient returns to its unitholders. “Positioned as a ‘REIT plus’, Link goes beyond a traditional REIT and offers investors more possibilities for both growth and income. By firmly pursuing a diversified strategy across regions and asset classes in the Asia-Pacific and gradually expanding its investment management business, Link is determined to continue achieving long-term, stable and sustainable development,” he said.