KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 26 — Some of Malaysia’s richest people including Datuk Mokhzani Mahathir have seen their fortunes tumble along with global oil prices, Forbes reported.
The US business magazine reported yesterday the net worth of the second son of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had plunged by RM1.8 billion in a 42 per cent drop—the biggest drop in percentage terms of anyone in Forbes’ Malaysia’s richest list this year—knocking him out of the billionaire ranks.
Mokhzani is Malaysia’s 26th richest person and a large investor in the region’s biggest oil and gas services provider, SapuraKencana Petroleum.
The main investors in SapuraKencana, brothers Shahril and Shahriman Shamsuddin, lost nearly 40 per cent of their net worth, dropping from RM5 billion to RM3.1 billion this year, falling from the 11th richest Malaysians to the 21st.
“As global oil prices plummeted from a peak of US$115 (RM414.67) a barrel to below US$50 a barrel, the wealth of the country’s oil and gas tycoons fell by hundreds of millions of dollars,” the Forbes article said.
It noted too that 11 of Malaysia’s top 50 fortunes have ties to the oil sector; adding that most were down.
The magazine also reported that the fortunes of Malaysia’s top three richest, former sugar baron Tan Sri Robert Kuok, telecommunications tycoon Tan Sri T. Ananda Krishnan, and founder of Hong Leong Bank Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan also suffered from the fall in oil prices.
Other billionaire losers reported in the article included casino magnates Chen Lip Keong and Lim Kok Thay.
Chen lost his billionaire status after his fortune slumped to US$750 million while Lim’s Genting Resorts in Malaysia and Singapore suffered from a decrease in Chinese high-rollers following Chinese President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on corruption.
Direct marketer Teoh Beng Seng, real estate tycoon Robert Tan, and glovemaker Stanley Thai — who has been charged with insider trading — have also fallen off the Forbes Malaysia’s 50 richest list.
However, the weaker ringgit has helped exporters like Sabah plantation tycoon Lau Cho Kun climb into the Forbes list, the article said.
Likewise, software exporter Goh Peng Ooi enjoyed a 41 per cent increase in his net worth, according to the magazine report.
Other new entrants to the Forbes list include Khoo Cheng Hai of KSL Holdings and Kong Chong Soon of United Overseas Australia, as well as packaging specialist Lim Teck Meng and oil-ship fabricator Ng Chin Heng.
