Page 84 - Forbes - Asia (July - August 2018)

Singapore’s 50 Richest

BY NAAZNEEN KARMALI

Property Tigers

Real estate gains—now uncertain—helped tycoons rise 11%.

mid escalating U.S.-China
trade tensions, Singapore’s
export-led economy grew
at a slower-than-expected
A3.8% in the second quarter
of 2018. Shortly thereafter, in early July,
the government sought to cool down the
overheated property market by imposing
a fresh set of curbs including extra duties
and stricter limits on how much home
buyers can borrow.
Uncertainties loom: The new regime
of Mahathir Mohamad in neighboring
Malaysia is markedly less cozy than was
the ousted Najib Razak. It has hinted at
scrapping a much-touted high-speed rail
link between the two countries and revis-
iting a decades-old water-supply agree-
ment. Not surprisingly, both the Singa- The Ng brothers scored big with the mixed-use site in popular Holland Village.
pore dollar and the benchmark Straits Times Index are flat assets surged 50% on undisclosed investment gains, accord-
from a year ago. Nonetheless, the nation’s top 50 richest ing to o cial filings. It was also an eventful year for paint
collectively recorded double-digit gains; their combined tycoon Goh Cheng Liang, who has a 39% stake in Japan’s
wealth is up 11% to close to $116 billion. Nippon Paint Holdings. In a boardroom coup in March, his
The biggest dollar gainers are property siblings Robert son Goh Hup Jin took control of the storied 137-year-old
and Philip Ng and Facebook cofounder and Singapore Japanese firm—he was named chairman and oversaw the
resident Eduardo Saverin. The Ngs enjoyed a $2.5 billion appointment of five new executives to the board.
boost, partly on new information about their private assets. There are three newcomers to the list: Gordon Tang
Their Far East-led consortium scored a victory in May by of property firm SingHaiyi Group; Bangladesh-born
clinching a prized mixed-use site in the popular Holland Singapore resident Muhammed Aziz Khan, chairman of
Village precinct with a $904 million bid, beating out more Summit Group; and online gaming whiz Forrest Li, who
than a dozen other aspirants. The brothers, who must now listed his firm Sea on the NYSE in October. Four dropofs
contend with the cooling regulations, retain their No. 1 spot included Serge Pun, whose Singapore-listed Yoma Strate-
with $11.9 billion. Saverin, whose fortune was also up by gic Holdings fell on real-estate dips in his native Myanmar.
$2.5 billion, remains a close No. 2 with $11.8 billion. (Face- (Rankings are based on stock prices and exchange rates as
book shares gained 30% on a jump in ad revenues.) of July 13.)
Another billion-dollar gainer is New Zealander and long- Additional reporting by Prisca Ang, Megha Bahree, Jean
time Singapore permanent resident Richard Chand ler, Chen, Alex Fang, Rebecca Feng, Russell Flannery, Sean Ki-
who jumped four places to regain a spot in the top ten (at lachand, Suzanne Nam, Jane A. Peterson, Anuradha Raghu-
No. 8). His Singapore-headquartered Clermont Group’s net nathan, Sheela Sarvananda, Jessica Tan and Jennifer Wells.

82 | FORBES ASIA JULY / AUGUST 2018