KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 6 ― Malaysia’s Press Metal Aluminium and Batu Kawan both squeezed into this year’s Forbes 50 list that was increasingly dominated by Chinese corporations.

Outside of China, India was the second-best represented nation in the list of Asia-Pacific’s best public listed firms, contributing seven firms to the 50 or one fewer than last year.

Press Metal Aluminium took its inaugural appearance on the list a step further by also making it onto the cover of this month’s Forbes Asia magazine.

"Aluminium producer Press Metal makes its debut on the list with a market capitalisation

of US$4.7 billion (RM19.5 billion). The Malaysian company, started by CEO Koon Poh Keong and his six brothers, generated US$2 billion in annual revenue with a net profit of US$138 million last year.

"Since investing a total of US$1.2 billion in its two aluminium smelting plants in Sarawak, Press Metal has a capacity of 760,000 tons a year, the largest in South-east Asia. Koon is also featured on the cover of the latest issue of Forbes Asia,” Forbes said in a press release announcing the list.

As for Batu Kawan, the investment firm that is known for its chemical manufacturing, this is the fourth consecutive year it has made the Fab 50 list.

Forbes described the firm that owns a 47-per cent stake in the Kuala Lumpur Kepong conglomerate as having an annual turnover of US$5 billion and a market capitalisation of US$1.7 billion.

Malaysia’s links to the list could also be found in Geely Auto, which bought into national carmaker Proton last year.

A more controversial connection is Chinese developer Country Garden, which is behind the Forest City project in Johor Baru.

China’s dominance of the global economy was emphatically demonstrated by the representation of its firms in the list. A full 30 Chinese firms made it this year, crowding out the rest of the region.

Top of the list was Chinese Internet firm Tencent Holdings, which celebrated its 10th consecutive year in the Fab 50. The firm books an annual turnover of US$35 billion with US$435 billion in capital.

Forbes considered a pool of 1,744 listed firms each with an annual revenue of at least US2 billion for the list and tracked their performance over the period of one year.

Candidates are eliminated if their turnover falls below what it was five years prior or if they book losses. Heavily-geared firms are also dropped from consideration.

"The goal is an honour roll of high-performing blue chips, the region's best of the best,” said the Forbes editors who compiled the final list.