|
|
Welcome to RichestAsian.com Forbes Rich List - Hong Kong's 40 Richest People in 2008 The 79 year old head of Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong Holdings Li Ka-shing is the richest man in Hong Kong and Asia. Li Ka shing's conglomerate controls the biggest healthy and beauty retailer in the world and is also the world's largest operator of container terminals. Asia's richest man saw his wealth increase from $22 billion last year, to $32 billion this year. The overall wealth of the people in Hong Kong with wealth tied up in quality stocks saw impressive increases in net worth because of the 40% increase in the benchmark Hang Seng index. Inheritance ensured that the next entrants on the Hong Kong rich list were very wealthy. The three Kwok brothers (Raymond, Thomas and Walter Kwok) have an estimated $24 billion net worth. With Hong Kong having some of the most expensive real estate in the world, the Kwok brothers are onto a winner with Sun Hung Kai Properties, which is one of the largest property developers in the city. The remaining top 5 richest people in Hong Kong consist of the investor known as Asia's Warren Buffett, Lee Shau Kee with $23 billion in third position. Cheng Yu-tung is in fourth position with an estimated $9.4 billion from his investments and control of New World Development. The 86 year old casino mogul Stanley Ho is the fifth richest man in Hong Kong with an estimated $9 billion. The combined net worth of the wealthiest 40 people in Hong Kong is about $179 billion US dollars. This is a remarkable figure when you consider that half of the residents of Hong Kong get by with an annual income of just $15,400. 2 of Asia's richest men sign up to Fosun IPO Fosun International is raising as much as 10.85 billion Hong Kong dollars, or $1.39 billion, in an initial public offering whose investors include the Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, people with direct knowledge of the matter said. The Shanghai-based company, whose businesses range from steel to financial services, is offering 1.25 billion shares in Hong Kong at 6.48 dollars to 8.68 dollars each, the three people said, declining to be identified because the information has not been made public. Bets that Guo Guangchang, Fosun's co-founder, has made on companies like Shanghai Forte Land and Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group have made him China's ninth-richest man, with an estimated fortune of $1.5 billion. Guo typically borrows to fund purchases, mirroring the approach of buyout companies like Blackstone Group, which last week raised $4.1 billion in an IPO. "This is the China equivalent of Blackstone," said Francis Lun, general manager of Fulbright Securities in Hong Kong. "They have major investments in several very successful listings. The market perception is they have the Midas touch." China International Capital Corp., Morgan Stanley and UBS are arranging the sale, which may become the third-largest Hong Kong IPO this year at the top end of the pricing range, according to Bloomberg data. Guo owns 58 percent of Fosun, a June 15 report by UBS said. His stake would be worth $3 billion at the top end of the range, Bloomberg calculations show. Guo is the company's chairman. Eleven corporate investors will invest in $220 million of shares between them, the people said. These include companies controlled by Li and another Hong Kong tycoon, Lee Shau-kee; the Government of Singapore Investment; First State Investments; China Life Insurance; and China Pacific Insurance. Fosun invested 20 million yuan, or $2.6 million, in the property developer Shanghai Forte in 1994, the UBS report said. As of June 13, that stake was worth $6.1 billion, UBS said. A similar-sized investment in Shanghai Fosun in the same year has since swelled to a value of 7.5 billion yuan, the report said. The sale of the 20 percent stake values the Shanghai-based company at between 13 and 17 times estimated earnings for 2008, the people said. Li's Cheung Kong Holdings, with operations from ports to retailing, trades at 17.4 times next year's estimated profit, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The people did not specify which of Li's and Lee's companies agreed to invest in Fosun's IPO. Lee is the chairman of Henderson Land Development and the second-richest man in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan after Li, according to Forbes Magazine. A Shanghai-based spokeswoman for Fosun and Chris Cockerill, a UBS spokesman in Hong Kong, declined to comment. Tracy Hu, a Beijing-based CICC spokeswoman, and Po-ling Cheung, a Morgan Stanley spokeswoman in Hong Kong, could not be reached for comment. |