Malaysia’s top 40 richest people
The richest people in the country saw a big jump in their wealth in 2017.
LAST year was dotted by the return of higher commodity prices and better economic growth. The world’s economies on average are back in business as growth rates and trade have started to improve once again after some period of uncertainty caused by a cooling China economy and also the slump in global crude oil prices.
That translated to indeed a stellar year for Malaysia’s richest people. The top 40 richest Malaysians saw their net worth increase by a combined RM63.62bil or 28% to RM290.48bil at the end of 2017.
That amount though is limited to the value of listed shares the 40 individuals own and do not take into account the debt taken to buy the shares and the information gathered is based on latest disclosures made by those companies as at the end of last year.
Among the richest 40, the person who saw the largest increase in wealth was Robert Kuok. Malaysia’s richest man who saw a RM13.17bil increase in his wealth and that was followed by Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd founder Tan Sri Koon Poh Keong and Koon Poh Ming, who is his brother.
The rebound in aluminium prices and the great improvement in the financial performance of Press Metal led to a huge rise in wealth for Poh Keong and Poh Ming, and subsequently their ranking from the 14th spot to eighth this year.
This year also saw the entry of seven new people into the list, led by Tan Sri Tony Fernandes and Datuk Kamarudin Meranun of the AirAsia Group. The big jump in the share price of AirAsia as the profits of the company soared amid an internal restructuring of the group saw them catapult into the 17th position with a combined wealth of RM3.95bil.
Other notable entries into the list with wealth in excess of RM2bil are Datuk Mohd Abdul Karim Abdullah, Abdul Kadier Sahib and Datuk Awang Daud Awang Putera of Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd (RM2.5bil) and fund manager Datuk Seri Cheah Cheng Hye (RM2.47bil) of Value Partners Group.
But with every entry into the list, there is an equal number of individuals who have dropped out of the top 40. Tan Sri Shahril Shamsuddin of Sapura Energy Bhd was ranked the 29th richest person in Malaysia in 2016 but the collapse in crude oil prices and also the share price of his listed company saw him lose more than half of the value of his shares in the company.
The drop in the share price of Sapura Energy erased RM958mil in the value of Shahril’s shares in the company.
Other notable people who have dropped out of the top 40 are Rimbunan Hijau boss Tan Sri Diong Hiew King @ Tiong Hiew King and Tan Sri Mokhzani Mahathir after he sold his listed shares in Sapura Energy.