8. TAN SRI KOON POH KEONG and KOON POH MING

Flagship: Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd Net worth: RM13.07bil LAST year saw Press Metal Aluminium Holdings’ share price surging some 200% year-on-year, bolstering the Koon family’s wealth to RM13.07bil from RM3.71bil in 2016; and catapulting their position to eighth place on Malaysia’s top-40 richest list in 2017, up from the 14th spot in the preceding year.

As at Dec 31, 2017, Poh Keong, the company’s group chief executive officer, had a 17.3% stake in Press Metal, while his brother, Poh Ming, had an 8.4% stake in the company.

Alpha Milestone Sdn Bhd, the vehicle of Poh Keong and Poh Ming, had a 22.3% stake in Press Metal as at Dec 31, 2017.

Aluminium prices have since rebounded to hover around US$2,200 (RM8,500) per tonne, following a temporary blip in early December 2017.

A graduate in electrical engineering from the University of Oklahoma in the United States, the 57-year-old Poh Keong formed the company as an aluminium-extruding operation in 1986 – employing just 12 workers. Press Metal today has grown into a globally integrated aluminium corporation.

The company has a downstream extrusion operation that is integrated with its greenfield aluminium-smelting plants in Mukah and Samalaju in Sarawak, which have an annual combined capacity of 760,000 tonnes per annum – which is 1.3% of global aluminium consumption.

Part of the rise of Press Metal’s share price is the profit it makes from the aluminium business, thanks to a long-term cheap power deal to buy energy from Bakun Dam. Press Metal is said to be the single largest buyer of power from the dam.

The company also operates aluminium extrusion plants in Malaysia and China. Press Metal’s market capitalisation stood at RM20.7bil as at Dec 31, 2017.

Press Metal’s cumulative ninemonth core profit ended Sept 30, 2017 rose 57.3% to RM452.6mil from RM287.7mil a year ago.

The increase was mainly due to additional production output generated by its Samalaju Phase 2 smelting plant and higher metal prices.

Cumulative nine-month revenue was up 30.1% to RM6bil from the preceding year’s nine-month revenue of RM4.6bil. The company is targeting to increase the contribution of value-added products from 30% to 50% by end2018.