13 TAN SRI JEFFREY CHEAH FOOK LING

Flagship: Sunway Bhd Net worth: RM5.5bil THE philanthropist, who saw his fortunes jumping by nearly 29% in 2017, has moved a notch down to the 13th position.

Cheah, the founder and executive chairman of the Sunway group, is seen as a pioneer in higher education and is active in promoting education as a social cause in the country.

In 2009, he set up the Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah Foundation, and gifted to it the privately held and cashrich Sunway education arm.

The Sunway Group’s entities comprise flagship Sunway Bhd, which is listed on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia with a market capitalisation of RM8.67bil as at Dec 31, 2017.

Known for its iconic property developments, Sunway Bhd has presence in many international markets such as China, Australia and Singapore.

At a time when the property sector is slowing down in the region, Sunway Bhd continued to register a resilient financial performance last year.

Sunway Group’s construction arm, Sunway Construction Group Bhd (SunCon), also made headlines in 2017 as it secured major infrastructure contracts.

The company, which was listed in 2015, bagged contracts related to the light rail transit line 3, both lines of the mass rapid transit and the proposed 1Malaysia Civil Servants Housing project, among others.

SunCon’s current order book is valued at RM6.8bil, which offers an earnings visibility for the next three years.

The company, via a consortium with IJM Corp Bhd, is also eyeing to become the Malaysian project delivery partner (PDP) for the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore highspeed rail development.

In the event of the SunCon-IJM consortium securing the PDP role, it could provide a major lift to its bottom line, moving forward.

Apart from its domestic operations, SunCon aims to pursue geographical diversification by enlarging its footprint in the Asean region.

The company plans to expand into Myanmar and Indonesia, with special focus on developing infrastructure projects and other specialised buildings such as hospitals.

Aside from Sunway Bhd and SunCon, Sunway Group’s third listed entity is the Sunway Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit), with an equity interest of nearly 40%.

Sunway Reit has a coveted portfolio of growing assets, which include Sunway Pyramid, Sunway Carnival Mall and Sunway Putra Hotel.

About 70% of Sunway Reit’s net property income is contributed by retail assets, which enjoy consistent and high occupancy rates.