Who owns Lee Kum Kee?
Lee Kum Kee is owned by Lee Kum Kee Co., Ltd. (Hong Kong).[1]
This ownership is reported in official statements but has not yet been matched to a regulatory filing.
Evidence: Milestones (Lee Kum Kee history), Lee Kum Kee Co., Ltd. Last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- Lee Kum Kee Co., Ltd. reported
- Owner HQ
- 🇭🇰 Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- Origin
- 🇭🇰 Hong Kong
- Founded
- 1888
- Category
- Food › Condiments, sauces & seasonings › Sauces & ketchup
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
About Lee Kum Kee
Lee Kum Kee is the company's namesake sauce brand and its flagship product remains oyster sauce, first made in 1888 when founder Lee Kum Sheung let a pot of cooking oysters reduce down by accident. The brand has since grown into a full Asian condiment range built around that founding category, including soy sauce, chilli sauce, XO sauce, cooking vinegar, seasoning and chicken powders, soup bases and cooking wine, sold under the single Lee Kum Kee name rather than as separate sub-brands. The company markets it on more than a hundred years of continuous oyster sauce production.
Ownership timeline of Lee Kum Kee
- Current owner Lee Kum Kee [1] reported
Where Lee Kum Kee sits in Lee Kum Kee
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Lee Kum Kee ownership tree →
Other brands in sauces & ketchup, and who owns them
The 95 brands in sauces & ketchup on Brandtree belong to 53 owners. The largest is Develey, with 6.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Bautz'ner | Develey | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| Chungjungone | Daesang | 🇰🇷 South Korea |
| Haitian | Haitian | 🇨🇳 China |
| Chaochai | Sempio | 🇰🇷 South Korea |
| Búfalo | Grupo Herdez | 🇲🇽 Mexico |
| A.1. | Kraft Heinz | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Las Palmas | B&G Foods | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Erisco | Erisco Foods | 🇳🇬 Nigeria |
About the owner: Lee Kum Kee
Lee Kum Kee is a privately held company headquartered in Hong Kong, Hong Kong, founded in 1888. Brandtree records 1 brand under its control.
Lee Kum Kee is a privately held Hong Kong sauce and condiment maker whose own history page credits its beginning to an accident: founder Lee Kum Sheung was cooking oysters in 1888 when he became too busy to watch the pot, and the overcooked liquid became the first oyster sauce. The company describes itself as the creator of oyster sauce and says it now carries more than a century of manufacturing experience in the category. Its current product range, sold under the single Lee Kum Kee name, spans oyster sauce, soy sauce, chilli sauce, XO sauce, vinegar, seasoning and chicken powders, soup bases, cooking wine and ready-to-eat items sold across Asia and internationally.
🇭🇰 Lee Kum Kee and other Hong Kong brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 47 brands that began in Hong Kong. 6 of them (13%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country; Lee Kum Kee is not one of them.
- VITASOY — Vitasoy 🇭🇰
- Air Hong Kong — Cathay Pacific 🇭🇰
- BSX — Giordano 🇭🇰
- CLP Power — CLP 🇭🇰
- COSCO SHIPPING Ports — COSCO SHIPPING Ports 🇭🇰
- Café de Coral — Café de Coral 🇭🇰
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of Lee Kum Kee?
The parent company of Lee Kum Kee is Lee Kum Kee Co., Ltd., a privately held company headquartered in Hong Kong.
Is Lee Kum Kee Hong Kong?
Yes. Lee Kum Kee originated in Hong Kong in 1888 and its owner, Lee Kum Kee Co., Ltd., is also headquartered in Hong Kong.
Is Lee Kum Kee still owned by Lee Kum Kee Co., Ltd.?
Yes. As of 21 September 2026, Lee Kum Kee is still owned by Lee Kum Kee Co., Ltd. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (1) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] Milestones (Lee Kum Kee history) — Lee Kum Kee Co., Ltd., Official document; retrieved 28 September 2026.
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