Page 91 - Forbes - Asia (July - August 2018)

THE LIST

WONG NGIT LIONG 35. LIM CHAP HUAT
$895 MILLION
SOILBUILD GROUP
AGE: 64
Volatile Venture 36. LIM HOCK CHEE
$830 MILLION
SHENG SIONG GROUP
ong Ngit Liong, chair- AGE: 56
man and chief executive of 37. PRIMUS CHENG
WVenture Corp., an early Sin- $785 MILLION
PRIMA FOOD AGE: 68
gapore tech standout, was in the eye of
a storm recently. Wong, 77, who last 38. JOHN LIM
$780 MILLION S
featured among the country’s richest ARA AGE: 62
in 2009, saw Venture’s shares plunge
39. LOO CHOON YONG
by one third over just two and a half $760 MILLION T
weeks, starting in mid-April, when it RAFFLES MEDICAL GROUP
AGE: 69
became the target of short-sellers.
40. SAURABH MITTAL
The bear raid was prompted partly
$750 MILLION S
by an anonymous blog report that MISSION HOLDINGS
AGE: 44
Venture was too dependent on its key
client, tobacco giant Philip Morris, 41. CHENG WAI KEUNG
$740 MILLION
which had reported weak sales of its WING TAI HOLDINGS
electronic cigarette, manufactured by AGE: 67
Venture. 42. FORREST LI
In the first quarterly results brief- $738 MILLION Ì
SEA
ing on April 25, Wong told analysts AGE: 40
to consider the report’s source and 43. KUIK AH HAN
intention, while Venture’s CFO said $733 MILLION
SIM LIAN GROUP
that the short-sellers behind the report AGE: 72
had a “clear hidden agenda.” Accord-
44. TAN BOY TEE
ing to the Business Times, a local paper, $713 MILLION
Wong said at the briefing: “Do these Wong’s advice: “Don’t listen to rumors.” BESTFORD GROUP
AGE: 69
people have the guts to show their
face? Don’t listen to rumors.” mental in the startup of HP in Singapore and 45. MIN-LIANG TAN
$690 MILLION
Venture’s shares have fallen 21% since in Malaysia. He became Venture’s chairman RAZER AGE: 40
early May, when the company bought back and chief executive in 1986, two years after 46. YAO HSIAO TUNG
shares from the market and released a state- the company, formerly known as Venture $650 MILLION 3
HI-P INTERNATIONAL
ment about its diversified client pool, which it Manufacturing Singapore, was founded. AGE: 78
said comprises more than 100 active custom- Wong has also made headlines for being
47. DANNY YONG
ers. It also defended its decision to keep its the city-state’s highest-paid executive. He $610 MILLION
clients confidential in an intensely competi- took home $9 million last year, more than DYMON ASIA CAPITAL AGE: 46
tive industry. double his salary in 2016, outearning Singa- 48. SHAW VEE MENG
It will be tough for Venture’s stock to pore’s top bankers, DBS chief Piyush Gupta $585 MILLION
SHAW ORGANIZATION
return to its previous historic high, due to the and United Overseas Bank CEO Wee Ee AGE: 85
global drag on the electronics and semicon- Cheong (the son of No. 6 Wee Cho Yaw). 49. CHING CHIAT KWONG
ductor industries, says Jarick Seet, head of Under Wong, Venture’s profit more than $545 MILLION T
OXLEY HOLDINGS
small and midcap research at RHB Research doubled last year to $280 million, buoyed by AGE: 52
Institute Singapore. Despite Venture’s market record revenue of $3 billion, improvements
50. HO KIAN GUAN
cap of $3.4 billion, Wong, who owns 7% of the in engineering design and better operational $535 MILLION
firm, remains well below the top 50 cutoff. processes. It posted 2018 first-quarter net KECK SENG GROUP
AGE: 72
A trained engineer and former UC Berke- profit of $62 million, up 72% on year; revenue
ley Fulbright scholar, Wong cut his teeth at inched up 1.5% to $634 million.
SUP MORE THAN 10% TDOWN MORE THAN 10%
Hewlett-Packard in the U.S. and was instru- —Prisca Ang ÌNEW TO LIST 3RETURNEE
THE STRAITS TIMES © SINGAPORE PRESS HOLDINGS LIMITED

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