Page 48 - Forbes - Asia (March 2020)

MALAYSIA’S
50 RICHEST
Big Dig

LIM KANG HOO

43. KAMARUDIN MERANUN One of the main developers behind
Iskandar Malaysia in Johor Bahru,
$315 MILLION Lim Kang Hoo is now hoping this
46 AIRASIA year to launch Bandar Malaysia, the
AGE: 58
$33 billion, off-again, now on-again
project in Kuala Lumpur, revival of
T 44. WONG TEEK SON which helped boost Lim’s fortune
THE LIS $310 MILLION 8% to $765 million.

His privately held Iskandar Wa-
RIVERSTONE HOLDINGS
The project was launched in 2011 by the
terfront Holdings will develop 197 hectares
AGE: 57
on a former air force base as part of a ven- fraud-ridden government fund 1Malaysia
45. MOKHZANI MAHATHIR ture with China Railway Engineering and Development Bhd. (1MDB), only to be can-
Malaysia’s finance ministry. When it’s done celled in 2017, and then revived in 2018.
$305 MILLION
in roughly 20 years, the mixed-use develop- This news boosted shares of Lim’s Iskandar
SAPURA ENERGY
ment will have office buildings, a shopping Waterfront City and Ekovest, which gained
AGE: 59
mall, housing, public green spaces and a almost 70% and 31%, respectively, in the
46. GOOI SEONG LIM transport hub. past year. —Suzanne Nam

$290 MILLION
KIM LOONG RESOURCES
AGE: 70

47. CHU JENN WENG

$280 MILLION
ViTROX
AGE: 50

48. KONG PAK LIM

$275 MILLION
UNITED OVERSEAS AUSTRALIA
AGE: 65

49. YONG PANG CHAUN

Bumpy
$265 MILLION
Road
PADINI HOLDINGS
AGE: 69
VINCENT TAN
50. OH KUANG ENG Vincent Tan’s flagship Berjaya Corp. has ize. CEO Wong Heang Tuck was quoted in

$255 MILLION not escaped the Malaysian stock market’s November saying that the IPO remains in
overall decline. Berjaya’s stock fell about the works for this year.
MI TECHNOVATION
AGE: 50
14% in the past 12 months, while Tan’s for- An oversupply of unsold residential and
tune is down 2.6% to $750 million. commercial units across Malaysia also
Tan also had to stall the listing of U Mo- weighed on Berjaya Corp., causing a loss
bile, one of the country’s largest cellular of 54 million ringgit ($13 million) on rev- CHARLES PERTWEE/BLOOMBERG; NICKY LOH/BLOOMBERG
companies—an IPO that would have re- enue of 2 billion ringgit for the quarter
portedly raised up to $500 million. Tan, ended in September 2019. Berjaya warned
FOR MORE INFO, GO TO who chairs its board, announced plans to shareholders in November that it faces a
FORBES.COM/MALAYSIA list the firm in 2018. Yet despite a bum- challenging environment amid economic
per 2019 for Malaysian IPOs—with 30 uncertainty at home and abroad. Tan’s of-
CHANGE IN WEALTH KEY:
new listings, the highest in more than a fice and Berjaya officials did not respond to
UP DOWN UNCHANGED
NEW TO THE LIST RETURNEE decade—U Mobile’s IPO didn’t material- requests for comment. —Joe Cochrane

F ORBES A SIA MAR CH 2020