25 TAN SRI AZMAN HASHIM

Flagship: Amcorp Group Net worth: RM2.452bil THE founder of AMMB Holdings Bhd is known in business circles as “the singing banker”.

Synonymous with the Arab Malaysian Group, he is a chartered accountant-turned-banker.

With a net worth of RM2.452bil, Azman, 79, was Malaysia’s 25th richest person last year, down from his 22nd spot in 2016.

He found himself in a fortuitous position in 1982 when he bought a 40% stake in Taiping Textiles, which later became ArabMalaysian Development Bhd. In that same year, Azman bought Arab-Malaysian Development Bank, which later was transformed into Arab Malaysian Merchant Bank Bhd or AMMB.

Azman holds the entire stake in Amcorp group, which is into financial services, property and engineering, information technology, and consumer goods and services.

In the financial services sector, Azman is the second-largest shareholder with an effective 13% stake in AMMB, which controls AmBank, AmInvestment Bank, AmIslamic Bank, AmSecurities and AMMB Nominees.

Azman, via Amcorp group, has a 58.6% stake in RCE Capital and a 6.1% stake in AmFirst Reits, while AMMB has 26.7% in the same company.

In the property and engineering sector, Azman through the Amcorp group has a 69.1% stake in Amcorp Properties and 72.1% stake in Amcorp Properties-PA.

In the IT sector, Azman owns 100% of MCM Technologies. As for the consumer and services sector, he has 100% interests in Harpers Travel and Restoran Seri Melayu and 90% in Amcorp Auto.

His net worth was derived from the value of his stocks in the various companies as at end-2017.

At the end of last year, Azman’s stake in Amcorp Properties was valued at RM310.95mil while in Amcorp Properties-PA, it was worth RM74.9mil and in AmBank, it was valued at RM1.73bil. In Amfirst REITS, Azman’s stake was worth RM28.24mil, while in RCE, it was worth RM312.34mil.