9. KUAN KAM HON @ KWAN KAM ONN

Flagship: Hartalega Holdings Bhd Net worth: RM9.71bil KUAN is best known for his flagship Hartalega Holdings – where he is executive chairman.

As at Dec 31, 2017, he had a 6% direct stake in Hartalega Holdings and an indirect stake of 49% via outfit Hartalega Industries.

Shares of Hartalega Holdings rose some 124% in 2017, raising Kuan’s position to ninth on Malaysia’s top-40 richest list in 2017 from 11th the previous year, and more than doubling his net worth year-on-year to RM9.71bil last year from RM4.44bil in 2016.

The company’s market cap stood at RM17.65bil as at Dec 31, 2017.

Analysts have noted, however, that it would be challenging for the glovemaker to deliver a similar above 50% growth rate in financial year 2019, as the group is already running at full capacity and margin expansion estimates would not be as significant as in 2018.

Based on reports, Hartalega Holdings’ plants were operating at utilisation rates of more than 90% in the fourth quarter of 2017.

This is close to its maximum capacity and above its historical average of 85%-88%.

A self-made tycoon, Kuan, 71, founded the company in the early 1980s and was instrumental in growing it to become the world’s largest manufacturer and distributor of nitrile gloves.

The company is the world’s largest manufacturer and distributor of nitrile gloves, with an infrastructure currently built to support the production of 30 billion gloves per year.

The company operates from two main sites – five plants at Bestari Jaya spanning an area of 37 acres; and six plants to be commissioned at Sepang, called Hartalega Next Generation Complex, encompassing an area of 112 acres, which upon its completion would be capable of boosting group total production capacity to 42 billion gloves annually.

Their dedicated production lines aggregating to 117 lines in total are designed in-house, applying custom-built and cutting-edge technologies to serve the global market with speed, efficiency and quality.