Dec 10 2022, 12:55 PM, updated 4y ago
Malaysia’s 50 Richest
Naazneen Karmali & Jane Ho Forbes Staff Business
Overcoming pandemic pains and the impact of flash floods in December, Malaysia’s economy grew 5% in the first quarter of 2022, buoyed partly by a recovery in domestic demand.
While the stock market dipped slightly in the past 12 months, currency fluctuations saw the ringgit drop 6%. The combined wealth of Malaysia’s 50 richest was down 10% from a year ago to $80.5 billion.
#50 Ng Chai Eng
Net Worth: $255 M
Industry: Construction & Engineering
Ng Chai Eng cofounded engineering services firm UWC with Lau Chee Kheong in 1990. Ng is the group CEO and executive director. UWC provides high-end engineering and manufacturing services for industries such as semiconductors and telecom. The company went public in 2019.
#49 Yong Pang Chaun
Net Worth: $265 M
Industry: Fashion & Retail
Yong Pang Chaun is the founder and managing director of listed fashion retailer Padini Holdings. After finishing secondary school, Yong joined a textile merchant in Singapore. He returned to Malaysia to set up Padini’s first venture in 1971, supplying garments to department stores. Based in Kuala Lumpur, Padini has 140 stores in Malaysia and overseas, with nine fashion labels.
#48 Wong Thean Soon
Net Worth: $300 M
Industry: Technology
Wong Thean Soon cofounded My E.G. Services, a provider of immigration, vehicle registration, utility payments and other government services. Wong, who was an internet product developer, designed the e-government portal that led the country’s push into the digital economy. In February 2018, the company spent $2.4 million on a 3% stake in Ximmerse, a Chinese mobile augmented and virtual-reality developer.
#47 Steven Siaw Kok Tong
Net Worth: $305 M
Industry: Manufacturing
Steven Siaw Kok Tong cofounded electronics company ViTrox with Chu Jenn Weng, his former colleague at HP Malaysia, in 2000. ViTrox manufactures automated vision inspection equipment for the semiconductor and electronic packaging industries. In 2021, ViTrox’s net profit was up 61% wile revenue rose 31% buoyed by strong demand and the continued global shortage of semiconductor components.
#46 Desmond Lim Siew Choon
Net Worth: $335 M
Industry: Real Estate
Property tycoon Desmond Lim Siew Choon started developing residences and offices with property company Khuan Choo Group in the 1980s. His crown jewel is Pavilion Mall, a shopping center in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. The mall is a key asset of his Pavilion Real Estate Investment Trust, in which he and his wife own shares. Lim also holds a stake in Hong Kong-listed Nan Hai, a consumer electronics manufacturer and property developer.
#45 Stanley Thai and Cheryl Tan
Net Worth: $340 M
Industry: Manufacturing
Stanley Thai started Supermax with his wife Cheryl Tan in 1987 as a distributor of latex gloves; Supermax began manufacturing gloves in 1989. Today the Malaysia-listed company manufactures 24 billion gloves a year and exports to 165 countries. The company’s U.S. arm plans to invest $350 million to build a medical gloves factory in Texas.
#44 Kong Chong Soon
Net Worth: $345 M
Industry: Real Estate
Kong Chong Soon developed and runs hotels, restaurants and recreational outlets. He cofounded United Overseas Australia in 1987; today it develops residential and commercial properties in Malaysia’s Bangsar area. Son Sze Choon runs the group’s real estate investment trust.
#43 Loi Tuan Ee & Siblings
Net Worth: $380 M
Industry: Food & Beverage
Brothers Loi Tuan Ee and Tuan Kin cofounded Farm Fresh in 2007, starting out with rearing goats. Five years later, with help from Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional, they built a dairy farm to rear cows. Tuan Ee is managing director and CEO; Tuan Kin serves as plant operations director. Sister Foon Kion also sits on the board.
#42 Loh Kian Chong
Net Worth: $390 M
Industry: Automotive
Loh Kian Chong is executive chairman of Oriental Holdings, a listed Penang-based group that started with cars. Oriental has extended its business portfolio to healthcare, hotels, palm oil plantations and resorts. Loh’s late grandfather, Loh Boon Siew, started the group before World War II and was known as “Mr. Honda.”
#41 Ong Leong Huat
Net Worth: $395 M
Industry: Finance & Investments
Ong Leong Huat is the executive chairman and majority shareholder of financial services company OSK Holdings. He is also the chief executive of its property arm, OSK Property Holdings. He has retired from the board of OSK Ventures International, the group’s venture capital and private equity firm.
#40 Patrick Grove
Net Worth: $400 M
Industry: Technology
Patrick Grove is the cofounder, chairman and group CEO of Catcha Group, which has interests in digital businesses. He cofounded on-demand video service Iflix, which operates in more than 25 countries in Southeast Asia, South Asia, North Africa and the Middle East. It was sold to Tencent for $50 million in 2020. His Australia-listed Frontier Digital Ventures has invested in 16 classifieds sites in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
#39 Gooi Seong Lim & family
Net Worth: $405 M
Industry: Real Estate
Gooi Seong Lim is chairman and managing director of property and construction firm Crescendo, and chairs palm oil producer Kim Loong Resources. Gooi began his career as an aerospace engineer with the Atomic Agency of Canada. He shares his fortune with three younger brothers, Gooi Seong Chneh, Gooi Seong Gum and Gooi Seong Heen.
#38 Lim Han Weng & family
Net Worth: $415 M
Industry: Energy
Lim Han Weng founded and chairs oil and gas company Yinson Holdings. Lim started Yinson Holdings in 1984 as a transport and trading business with his wife, Bah Kim Lian, who is an executive director. He took the company’s logistics business private in 2015 to maintain a focus on oil services.
#37 Ngau Boon Keat
Net Worth: $420 M
Industry: Energy
Ngau Boon Keat is the cofounder and chairman of Dialog Group, a large oil-and-gas services provider. The group’s projects include the expansion of its deepwater terminal in Johor, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia. A mechanical engineer from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, he began his career in 1972 with Mobil Singapore, then worked with Petronas.
#36 Ling Chiong Ho & Siblings
Net Worth: $425 M
Industry: Diversified
Ling Chiong Ho started his business by plying tugboats and then making them. Today his Shin Yang Group builds ships, exports timber and develops property. Ling derives most of his wealth from a stake in listed Sarawak Oil Palms, where he served as group executive chairman until March 2022. He’s now group business advisor.
#35 Chu Jenn Weng
Net Worth: $430 M
Industry: Manufacturing
Chu Jenn Weng is managing director, president and CEO of ViTrox. The company is a maker of automated vision inspection equipment for the semiconductor and electronic packaging industries. Chu co-founded the company in 2000 with Steven Siaw Kok Tong, who was his colleague at HP Malaysia. ViTrox is expanding in China and elsewhere in Asia as well as in Europe, Mexico and the U.S.
#34 Goh Peng Ooi
Net Worth: $465 M
Industry: Technology
Goh Peng Ooi began his career at IBM and in 1989 started his own company, Silverlake Axis. The Singapore-listed company now provides financial software for 40% of Southeast Asia’s banks. Silverlake’s big break came in 1994, when then-chairman of Singapore’s United Overseas Bank, Wee Cho Yaw, hired the company for a total revamp.
#33 Wen Chiu Chi & family
Net Worth: $515 M
Industry: Real Estate
Wen Chiu Chi is the chairman of developer Selangor Properties. The company was founded by his late parents, father Wen Tien Kuang and mother Chong Chook Yew. Wen and his siblings inherited the property empire after the matriarch passed away in September 2018. Wen took Selangor private in 2019. The company also owns real estate in Australia.
#32 Yaw Teck Seng & Yaw Chee Ming
Net Worth: $550 M
Industry: Diversified
Father and son, Yaw Teck Seng and Yaw Chee Ming (pictured), run forestry, rubber and property group Samling Strategic Corp. The company has 17,000 employees from Asia to North America. Teck Seng started the privately held group in 1963. Its property business has built Desa ParkCity township in Kuala Lumpur.
#31 Azman Hashim
Net Worth: $560 M
Industry: Finance & Investments
Azman Hashim is the former chairman of AmBank Group, Malaysia’s sixth-largest lender, which he acquired in 1982 as the Arab-Malaysian Merchant Bank. His bank holding company AMMB Holdings is the listed flagship. Azman retired in April 2022 though he remains chairman emeritus. Azman also has stakes in RCE Capital and Amcorp Properties, which his daughter Shalina chairs.
#30 Wong Teek Son & family
Net Worth: $565 M
Industry: Healthcare
Wong Teek Son cofounded Riverstone Holdings in 1989; he listed it in 2006 in Singapore. He has served as Riverstone’s executive chairman since 2005. Wealth includes holdings by brother Teck Choon who heads the company’s business development. Cofounder Lee Wai Keong is the chief operating officer. The company makes nitrile gloves for clean-room and healthcare uses; customers include major hard-disk manufacturers such as Hitachi and Seagate.
#29 Danny Tan Chee Sing
Net Worth: $590 M
Industry: Real Estate
Danny Tan founded property developer Tropicana Corp. in 1979 and listed it on the main market of Bursa Malaysia in 1992. Tan owns a vast land bank in the Iskandar region of Malaysia. He retired from Tropicana’s day-to-day operations in 2015 but came back as executive vice chairman in January 2019. His son Dion Tan is Tropicana’s group managing director.
#28 Lim Kang Hoo & family
Net Worth: $620 M
Industry: Real Estate
Lim Kang Hoo is the founder, director and executive vice chairman of Iskandar Waterfront Holdings, a privately held developer. The company is the master developer of 4,000 acres in the area slated to become a new urban center in Johor. In 2015, Lim entered into a joint venture with China Railway Engineering to buy a controlling stake in the Bandar Malaysia development.
#27 Syed Azman Syed Ibrahim
Net Worth: $650 M
Industry: Diversified
Syed Azman Ibrahim started out as a defense contractor; he later diversified into car dealerships. Today he runs Southeast Asia’s largest helicopter fleet for the oil-and-gas sector through his privately held Weststar Aviation. He now also has a business chartering private jets to executives. Weststar Aviation boasts a fleet of 28 helicopters serving Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia
#26 David Kong
Net Worth: $660 M
Industry: Service
David Kong, who also goes by Kong Hon Kong, founded Kuala Lumpur-based Nirvana Asia in 1990 and took it public in Hong Kong in 2014. Asia’s largest death-services provider runs private cemeteries, columbarium facilities and funeral homes in Malaysia and Singapore. The company has acquired two new sites in Malaysia to further expand the reach of its agents.
#25 Tan Eng Kee
Net Worth: $715 M
Industry: Manufacturing
Tan Eng Kee is the cofounder and CEO of Malaysia-listed Greatech Technology, a maker of factory automation equipment. He set up the company in 1997 with his school buddy, Khor Lean Heng, who’s the company’s COO. Greatech’s customers include EV makers, solar energy producers and semiconductor companies.
#24 Lim Kuang Sia & Siblings
Net Worth: $740 M
Industry: Manufacturing
Chemical engineer Lim Kuang Sia runs Kossan Rubber Industries, one of Malaysia’s top producers of disposable gloves and technical rubber products. Kossan has installed capacity to annually produce 28 billion pieces of gloves. It exports 80% of its production to more than 130 countries. Lim shares his fortune with brothers, Lim Kuang Wang, Lim Leng Bung, Lim Kuang Yong and the family of his late brother, Lim Kwan Hwa.
#23 Lim Peng Cheong & Peng Jin
Net Worth: $790 M
Industry: Manufacturing
Lim Peng Jin (pictured) is the managing director of Scientex, while his older brother, Lim Peng Cheong, is a nonexecutive director. Their father, Lim Teck Meng, founded Scientex in 1968 as a manufacturer of PVC sheeting. It started in a rented factory lot in Johor Bahru. Lim Peng Jin took control of the family-owned company in 2014 and subsequently his father, Lim Teck Meng, ceased to be a major shareholder. The younger Lim built Scientex into one of the top three producers of stretch film in the world.
#22 Cheah Cheng Hye
Net Worth: $885 M
Industry: Finance & Investments
Fund manager Cheah Cheng Hye is the co-chairman and co-chief investment officer of Hong Kong-listed Value Partners Group. He cofounded the asset-management company in 1993, and listed it in 2007. After graduating from Penang Free School, he worked as a subeditor and writer at The Star newspaper in Malaysia. In 1974, he traveled to Hong Kong, where he had stints in financial journalism at the Far Eastern Economic Review and the Asian Wall Street Journal
#21 Vincent Tan
Net Worth: $905 M
Industry: Diversified
Vincent Tan is nonexecutive chairman of conglomerate Berjaya. He relinquished his executive role in April 2021 to focus on philanthropy. His son Robin Tan relinquished the CEO position in March 2021 but continues as nonexecutive deputy chairman. Tan’s business interests range from financial services to property development. He also holds a stake in privately held U Mobile, a 4G mobile-phone operator in Malaysia.
#20 Ninian Mogan Lourdenadin
Net Worth: $960 M
Industry: Real Estate
Ninian Mogan Lourdenadin owns and runs MBf Holdings. Its operations span eight countries, nine industries and more than 30 companies. MBf Holdings has interests in everything from automobile dealerships to property development. Lourdenadin was a medical doctor who became a property developer. The low-profile tycoon runs one of the largest trading companies in the South Pacific.
#19 Tiong Hiew King & family
Net Worth: $1 B
Industry: Diversified
Tiong Hiew King holds forestry concessions in 16 countries as well as property, oil-and-gas, and palm oil interests. He runs a print and digital media business for Chinese-speaking consumers in Malaysia. Tiong’s four daily newspapers comprise 70% of Malaysia’s Chinese newspaper business. He is the owner of Oregon Group, based in New Zealand, which builds houses and hotels, harvests salmon and manufactures plastic container
#18 Surin Upatkoon
Net Worth: $1.05 B
Industry: Diversified
Low-profile tycoon Surin Upatkoon made his fortune across sectors from insurance to telecom. Most of his fortune comes from selling a 10% stake in Thai telecom company InTouch in 2013. He owns stakes in listed gaming company Magnum Corp, textile firm MWE and insurance-and-property company MPHB Capital. He started his career as a manager at MWE Weaving in 1971 and rose through the ranks
#17 Francis Yeoh & Siblings
Net Worth: $1.2 B
Industry: Construction & Engineering
Francis Yeoh helms Kuala Lumpur-listed YTL Corp., founded in 1955 by his late father, Yeoh Tiong Lay, who died in October 2017. The family’s global empire boasts interests in cement, hotels, property and utilities. YTL owns PowerSeraya, Singapore’s second-largest power plant, and the Ritz-Carlton in Kuala Lumpur. Francis is the eldest of seven and his six siblings are all involved in the family business
#16 Jeffrey Cheah
Net Worth: $1.3 B
Industry: Real Estate
Jeffrey Cheah is the executive chairman of Malaysian conglomerate Sunway. Over four decades, he transformed his obscure tin-mining company into a group with interests in education, healthcare, hotels and infrastructure. His daughter, Sarena, and sons, Adrian and Evan, work in the family business. Sunway’s healthcare arm has two hospitals in Kuala Lumpur and has plans to open five more across the country
#15 Syed Mokhtar AlBukhary
Net Worth: $1.31 B
Industry: Construction & Engineering
Low-profile Syed Mokhtar AlBukhary started as a rice trader after dropping out of high school. The bulk of his wealth comes from stakes in DRB-HICOM and MMC Corp. MMC’s operations span ports, logistics, construction and engineering while DRB-HICOM is an automotive firm with interests in property and education. DRB-HICOM sold a 49.9% stake in Malaysian car-maker Proton to Chinese auto group Zhejiang Geely in 2017. In 2021, he delisted MMC Corp, which has been facing a string of challenges including drop in shipment volumes; higher operation costs and a slump in engineering contracts.
#14 Lim Wee Chai
Net Worth: $1.4 B
Industry: Manufacturing
Lim Wee Chai started Top Glove with his wife Tong Siew Bee in 1991 and took the company public in 2001. Top Glove is one of the world’s largest producers of rubber gloves. It has 50 factories with an annual capacity of 100 billion gloves. Lim, whose parents are rubber plantation owners and traders, also holds a stake in property developer Tropicana. Top Glove shares fell in 2021 as the pandemic-induced demand for gloves eased. Lim postponed plans for a Hong Kong listing amid a sharp drop in profits.
#13 G. Gnanalingam
Net Worth: $1.55 B
Industry: Logistics
Former tobacco executive G. Gnanalingam chairs Westports Holdings, a multicargo port operator that he cofounded with Ahmayuddin bin Ahmad on securing the concession in 1994. The group owns a 60-year concession to operate and expand its container terminals in Pulau Indah and Port Klang, which will end in 2054. Westports is one of three main port operators in the Strait of Malacca. His son, Ruben Emir Gnanalingam, is Westports’ group managing director
#12 Lee Oi Hian & Hau Hian
Net Worth: $1.6 B
Industry: Diversified
Brothers Lee Oi Hian, the chairman, and Lee Hau Hian, the managing director, control Batu Kawan. Batu Kawan has interests in plantations, property and other sectors. Kuala Lumpur Kepong, its plantation division, owns land banks in Malaysia, Indonesia and Liberia. Lee Oi Hian (pictured) graduated from the University of Malaya with a B.A. in agricultural science (Honors) and has an M.B.A. from Harvard University. Lee Hau Hian has a B.S. (economics) degree from the London School of Economics and an M.B.A. from Stanford University
#11 Kuan Kam Hon & family
Net Worth: $1.9 B
Industry: Manufacturing
Kuan Kam Hon was a high school dropout who began his career in construction in 1969. He worked at his father’s company building high-end homes. He set off on his own in 1978 and started Timol Weaving, a manufacturing business that made woven labels and badges. Founded in 1988, his Hartalega Holdings is one of the world’s largest makers of nitrile gloves with an annual production capacity of 40 billion gloves. After more than doubling in 2020, shares of Hartalega fell in 2021 due to a slump in demand for rubber gloves.
#10 Lau Cho Kun
Net Worth: $2 B
Industry: Diversified
Lau Cho Kun is the largest shareholder in Hap Seng Consolidated, through holding company Gek Poh and investment arm Lei Shing Hong. The diversified firm’s interests include financial services, plantations and property. Its plantation division is one of the largest producers of palm oil in Sabah, East Malaysia. Hap Seng Consolidated has been operating Mercedes-Benz dealerships in Malaysia since 1969. Privately held Hong Kong-based Lei Shing Hong runs Mercedes-Benz dealerships in Asia and Europe
#9 Lim Kok Thay
Net Worth: $2.35 B
Industry: Gambling & Casinos
Lim Kok Thay is the chairman of Genting, a casino and resorts conglomerate with a global footprint. In January 2022, Lim’s troubled cruise operator Genting Hong Kong, which was hit hard by the pandemic, filed a winding up petition. Lim stepped down as chairman. Lim’s assets include Empire Resorts, the parent company of loss-making Resorts World Catskills
#8 Tan Yu Yeh & Yu Wei
Net Worth: $2.4 B
Industry: Fashion & Retail
Brothers Tan Yu Yeh (pictured) and Yu Wei get their wealth from their stake in Mr D.I.Y. Group, a home improvement retail chain, which was founded in 2005. The company was listed on the Malaysian stock exchange in October 2020 making them both billionaires. Mr D.I.Y. has 900 stores in Malaysia and Brunei. Mr D.I.Y. stores are typically 10,000 square feet and carry products across ten categories including electrical items, stationery and toys.
#7 Chen Lip Keong
Net Worth: $2.7 B
Industry: Gambling & Casinos
Chen Lip Keong’s NagaWorld holds a casino license in Cambodian capital Phnom Penh running to 2065, with a guaranteed monopoly to 2035. NagaWorld is the largest casino resort in Indochina. Naga2 opened across the street in November 2017, connected by underground mall NagaCity Walk. NagaCorp is the first casino company to be listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange and the first doing business principally in Cambodia
#6 Lee Yeow Chor & Yeow Seng
Net Worth: $4.8 B
Industry: Food & Beverage
Lee Yeow Chor and Lee Yeow Seng are the sons of the late Lee Shin Cheng, who died in June 2019. The brothers inherited stakes in IOI group, a palm oil and property empire built by their father. Lee Yeow Chor (pictured) is group managing director and chief executive of IOI Corporation and holds a law degree from King’s College, London. Lee Yeow Seng, who also studied law, is the executive vice-chairman of IOI Properties
#5 Ananda Krishnan
Net Worth: $5 B
Industry: Telecom
Ananda Krishnan is a Harvard Business School grad and former oil trader. His holdings include stakes in telecom outfit Maxis, media firm Astro Malaysia Holdings and oilfield services-provider Bumi Armada. Krishnan’s Indian telecom firm, Aircel, in which he had invested an estimated $7 billion, filed for bankruptcy protection in 2018.
#4 Teh Hong Piow
Net Worth: $5.7 B
Industry: Finance & Investments
For decades Teh Hong Piow chaired Malaysian banking behemoth Public Bank, which he started in 1966. He officially retired from Public Bank as nonexecutive chairman in 2019 and is now chairman emeritus. Deputy chairman Lai Wan took over as nonexecutive chairman. In addition to Malaysia, the bank serves millions of customers across Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Teh still has substantial stakes in the bank as well as in the listed insurance business, LPI Capital, where he is non executive chairman
#3 Koon Poh Keong & Siblings
Net Worth: $6.2 B
Industry: Manufacturing
Koon Poh Keong and his four brothers started what is now called Press Metal Aluminium Holdings in 1986. The brothers pooled $50,000 to start the aluminum-extruding company at a time when Malaysia was in a recession. Today Press Metal is Southeast Asia’s largest integrated aluminum producer and competes with Rio Tinto, Russia’s Rusal and the Aluminum Corp of China. Poh Keong is group chief executive while Poh Ming is executive vice chairman and Poh Weng is executive director
#2 Quek Leng Chan
Net Worth: $10.1 B
Industry: Diversified
Quek Leng Chan is the executive chairman of privately held Hong Leong Co. (Malaysia), which has interests in finance, food and property. He inherited part of his fortune from his father, one of three brothers who started a banking group in the 1920s. His cousin, Kwek Leng Beng, is also a billionaire and chairs Hong Leong Group in Singapore.
#1 Robert Kuok
Net Worth: $11 B
Industry: Diversified
Robert Kuok is the richest man in Malaysia. He owns Kuok group, which has interests in hotels, real estate and commodities. He founded the internationally renowned Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts chain in Singapore in 1971. His nephew Kuok Khoon Hong runs Wilmar International, in which Kuok has a valuable stake. Robert Kuok’s youngest son Kuok Khoon Hua is CEO and vice chairman of Hong Kong property company Kerry Properties.
special apprerance , not listed bilionaire
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