Summary
1] ROBERT KUOK HOCK NIEN, 85 Chairman, KUOK & KERRY GROUP RM26.6 billion LAST YEAR OBVIOUSLY LEFT a bitter taste for the `Sugar King'. His main listed interests - Kerry Properties Ltd and Shangri- La Asia Ltd in Hong Kong, and Malaysian flagship PPB Group Bhd - saw their shares prices slashed by more than half after the rally in the early part of 2008. All were victims of the slump in the global financial markets and resulting economic contraction.
Accordingly, his wealth has declined from RM58.1 billion previously to RM26.6 billion.See the full content of this document
Extract
40 Richest Malaysians
Reports in Hong Kong suggest that Kuok family's holding company, Kerry Holdings Ltd, has suffered losses to the tune of HK$1 billion on currency derivatives. The bad news is hitting the group's expansion in China.
Kuok has had to cancel a proposed 7.3 billion yuan hotel and property project (via Kerry Properties and Shangri-La Asia) in Tangshan city in northern China due to poor market conditions. Shangri-La already has 22 hotels in China and is in the midst of constructing another 20.The crunch seems to have hit Kuok's growing energy business as well. The tycoon declined to take a 15% stake worth US$36 million in Fortune Gas, the holding company for Fortune Oil's gas operations. He acquired a 4.7% stake in Fortune Oil Plc, a China-based provider of gas and oil infrastructure, through Kerry Investco, a unit of Kerry Holdings, last July.China's falling exports, weakening consumption trend and rising unemployment, which some analysts fear may lead to social unrest, suggest a challenging year for Kuok's business interests in the country.However, times like this can also present opportunities for companies like the Kuok Group, which is professionally run and financially in good shape, minus the troubles at Transmile Group Bhd. Kuok also has substantial private financial means.Thus, it's not surprising that the Kuok Group has teamed up with SM Investment Corp and Grupo Generali, Europe's third-largest and Italian- based insurer, to bid for Philippine American Life and General Insurance Co, which has been put on sale by financially distressed parent American International Group. Kuok, SM and Generali are existing partners in another insurance firm, Generali Pilipinas.The Kuok Group has also teamed up with Philippines-based Sam Miguel Corporation, Southeast Asia's biggest food and beverage group, to spend about US$1 billion to develop one million hectares with food products to provide food security to the country.Kuok also has a 3.4% stake in Laura Ashley, which is controlled by his friend Tan Sri Khoo Kay Peng of the MUI Group. The bottom line is, crisis or no crisis, good opportunities will attract the attention of the Kuok Group. - BY BHUPINDER SINGH2] TATPARANANDAM ANANDA KRISHNAN, 70 Founder, USAHA TEGAS SDN BHD RM20.1 billion MEDIA BARON T. ANANDA Krishnan retains his second- placed ranking but narrows the gap. Ananda derives the bulk of his fortune from Maxis Communications, which he took private in 2007. Based on our valuation, his 75% stake in the mobile operator is currently estimated at RM16.2 billion, against RM23.25 billion a year ago.Maxis is the largest mobile-network operator in Malaysia, with 8.8 million subscribers or a 41.4% share of the market as at end- June 2007. Despite the keenly competitive cellular business, Maxis has kept its share of the mobile subscriber market at above 40% over the last five years, say analysts.The rest of Ananda's total RM20.1 billion wealth comes from his stakes in Tanjong Plc, Astro All Asia Networks Plc, Measat Global Bhd, and the newly acquired UK-listed Johnston Press Holdings Plc.Ananda emerged as the principal shareholder of the UK regional newspaper group last year when he bought a 20% stake in t...See the full content of this document
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