U
ntil 2011, Indian-born Sunny Verghese,
57, cofounder and CEO of Singapore-
based commodities giant Olam Inter-
national, had regularly featured on the roster of
Singapore’s richest. But in 2012, Verghese, who
holds a 4.1% stake in the firm, lost his place in the
rankings on a fall in Olam’s shares. Later that year,
U.S. short seller Muddy Waters called into question
the company’s accounting practices and viability,
causing its shares to further tumble.
Verghese, who set up the company in 1989 as an
exporter of raw cashews from Africa as an offshoot
of the Kewalram Chanrai Group, has made key
moves in the past five years to put Olam on a
firmer footing. However, with a net worth under
$200 million, he has yet to regain his spot on Singa-
pore’s 50 Richest list. In 2014, Singapore state-owned
investment firm Temasek boosted its shareholding
in Olam and now holds 52%. A year later, Japan’s
Mitsubishi picked up a 20% stake for $1.1 billion.
With cash in Olam’s kitty, Verghese went on an
expansion drive at a time when commodity prices
were low. Among other things, he bought the cocoa
business of Archer Daniels Midland for $1.2 billion
in 2015, which, according to DBS Group Research,
has made Olam one of the top three global cocoa
processors. Last year, Olam paid $275 million for
the wheat-milling and pasta-manufacturing assets
of Nigeria’s BUA Group. It also picked up U.S.-based
Brooks Peanut for $85 million.
Today the $3.8 billion (market cap) company
has 70,000 employees across 70 countries and sup-
plies everything from coffee to cashews to cocoa
to food giants Nestlé and Cadbury. In 2016, Olam
reported a net profit of $255 million on revenues of
$15 billion, reversing a year-earlier loss of $84 mil-lion, helped by higher sales of confectionery and
beverage ingredients.
Verghese, who has said that he sees opportuni-
ties in crises, is facing another headwind. Last De-
cember, U.S.-based environmental group Mighty
Earth accused Olam of large-scale deforestation
in the West African nation of Gabon—where it
has 100,000 hectares of land for palm oil cultiva-
tion—as well as for failing to disclose the identities
of third-party suppliers of palm oil. The company
agreed in February to suspend forest clearing for a
year and disclosed its suppliers’ names.
At the time, Verghese noted that in 2016 Olam
sourced and traded less than 1% of the global
output of more than 60 million tons of palm oil in
a market dominated by Indonesia and Malaysia.
But, he said, “that does not excuse us from being
responsible in the way we source.” During the
one-year moratorium, Olam and Mighty Earth
are expected to discuss guidelines for agricultural
development in heavily forested regions.
—Jessica TanMixed Harvest
SUNNY VERGHESEFOR METHODOLOGY AND ALL BIOS, GO TO FORBES.COM/SINGAPORE.MUNSHI AHMED
38
KUIK AH HAN
$730 MILLION S
SIM LIAN GROUP AGE: 71
39
CHENG WAI KEUNG
$720 MILLION S
WING TAI HOLDINGS AGE: 66
40
TAN BOY TEE
$715 MILLION
BESTFORD GROUP AGE: 68
41
MIN-LIANG TAN
$700 MILLION S
RAZER AGE: 39
42
DANNY YONG
$670 MILLION Ì
DYMON ASIA CAPITAL AGE: 45
43
BHUPENDRA KUMAR MODI
$665 MILLION
SMART GROUP AGE: 68
44
SAURABH MITTAL
$650 MILLION Ì
MISSION HOLDINGS AGE: 43
45
CHING CHIAT KWONG
$615 MILLION 3
OXLEY HOLDINGS AGE: 51
46
SHAW VEE MENG
$580 MILLION
SHAW ORGANIZATION AGE: 84
47
JOHN LIM
$575 MILLION S
ARA AGE: 61
48
HO KIAN GUAN
$565 MILLION
KECK SENG GROUP AGE: 71
49
HENRY NG
$545 MILLION
PAN-UNITED AGE: 59
50
KOH WEE SENG
$540 MILLION
ASPIAL AGE: 48THE LIST
SUP MORE THAN 10% TDOWN MORE THAN 10%
ÌNEW TO LIST 3 RETURNEE