28 DATUK LOH KIAN CHONG

Flagship: Oriental Holdings Bhd Net worth: RM2.349bil THE 41-year-old is the grandson of the late Tan Sri Loh Boon Siew or “Mr Honda”, who in his lifetime was the richest man in Penang.

Kian Chong is the executive director of the Penang-based conglomerate, Oriental Holdings, and had a net worth of RM2.349bil in 2017, putting him in the 28th spot on Malaysia’s top-40 richest list.

He occupied the 21st spot in 2016, with a net worth of RM2.4bil.

The marginal decline in his net worth was led by the drop in the share price of Oriental Holdings from RM6.80 in 2016 to RM6.55 last year, which translated into a market capitalisation of RM4.06bil.

Kian Chong has 57.8% deemed interest in Oriental Holdings. This is held via the family’s privately-owned companies – Boon Siew Sdn Bhd, Penang Yellow Bus Company Bhd, Bayview Hotel Sdn Bhd, Loh Boon Siew Holdings Sdn Bhd and Loh Kar Bee Holdings Sdn Bhd.

He is the son of Boon Siew’s eldest and only surviving son, Loh Kar Bee.

The Oriental group, which started by selling cars, has also expanded into investment holdings and financial services, hotels and resorts, property development, automobile and related products, plastics, healthcare and others.

Kian Chong holds the reins of the Boon Siew empire and there is a shift in the business to focus more on the retail business, which has hotels and investment properties in Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and Britain.

He joined the board of Oriental Holdings as executive director in May 2009 and was appointed as deputy chairman in November 2013. He assumed the position of chairman on Jan 1, 2015, as the third-generation took over the helm of the cash-rich company.