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Tycoons take a bath as markets
run dry
Most
have seen the value of their stockholdings shrink dramatically
They aren't living hand to mouth just
yet, but it must feel like it.
Thirteen of
Singapore's biggest tycoons have shed at least $6.7 billion in net worth
since the start of the year - each has lost almost 55 per cent on average.
That's according to
rough and ready calculations by BT from Bloomberg and annual report data.
The losses are based just on the paper value of their holdings in some of
Singapore's biggest blue chips, and doesn't include possible loss of value
in other assets, such as property or financial investments.
On the wrong end of the list is Kwek Leng
Beng and family's holding in property firm City Developments through Hong
Leong Holdings, Hong Leong Investment Holdings and Hong Realty -
collectively about 320 million shares, or 35.3 per cent of the company, and
worth about $4.4 billion at the start of the year.
Yesterday, the same shares traded at
$7.20, valuing them at $2.3 billion - down 47.5 per cent. Mr Kwek and his
family were estimated to be worth US$1.2 billion when Forbes magazine
published its latest Singapore rich list in August.
Other property magnates have also lost
heavily in the general selldown of the sector.
Ho Bee Group's Chua Thian Poh is down 66
per cent so far this year. His 474 million shares in the company were worth
$235 million yesterday, down from almost $700 million at the start of the
year as the share price plummeted to less than 50 cents, pulling the firm
into penny status.
They have been joined there by SC Global
and Hotel Properties Ltd. SC Global's Simon Cheong and HPL's Ong Beng Seng,
whose holdings were worth almost half a billion dollars each at the start of
the year, were yesterday down 80 per cent and 72 per cent respectively.
Elsewhere, veteran banker Wee Cho Yaw is
poorer by almost $1 billion, although the 79-year-old chairman of United
Overseas Bank group is still sitting pretty on almost $4 billion in shares.
UOB has been largely spared this year, with its shares losing just 20 per
cent to date. Forbes estimated that Mr Wee and his family were worth US$3.6
billion in August.
Wilmar chairman and chief executive
officer Kuok Khoon Hong has gone off the billionaire list, at least in terms
of the value of his holdings in the palm oil giant. His deemed holdings,
stated as 313.2 million shares in the company's latest annual report, were
worth $761.1 million yesterday, down from $1.68 billion at the beginning of
the year.
Wilmar's share price has more than halved
since January. Much of the damage came in the last three months as falling
commodity prices prompted a re-rating of plantation plays.
Also suffering in the commodity carnage
is Olam's Sunny Verghese, whose shares were yesterday worth half of the $250
million they could have fetched 10 months ago, but even then managed to slip
Mr Verghese into this year's Forbes top 40.
Another former billionaire is Raffles
Education founder Chew Hua Seng. His 805 million shares (including those
held in a trust) were worth $1.49 apiece in January. Yesterday, they traded
at 55.5 cents, or less than $450 million for the lot.
Out of the Forbes rich list, though, was
healthy lifestyle product maker Ron Sim. OSIM's share price has collapsed to
11 cents from 60 cents. Mr Sim's holdings were worth barely $18 million
yesterday, down from almost $100 million.
Tech entrepreneurs Wong Ngit Leong and
Sim Wong Hoo also lost their centimillion status, at least in terms of worth
measured in share value. Venture Corp has lost almost 60 per cent of its
share price this year, while Mr Sim's Creative Tech has fared slightly
better - his 23 million shares are now worth just $87 million.
- 2008 October 14 BUSINESS
TIMES
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