2020-03-01_Forbes_Asia

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MARCH 2020 FORBES ASIA

MALAYSIA’S 50 RICHEST

18. NGAU BOON KEAT
    $975 MILLION
    DIALOG GROUP
    AGE: 71


19. NINIAN MOGAN
    LOURDENADIN
    $970 MILLION
    MBF HOLDINGS
    AGE: 66


20. DAVID KONG
    $900 MILLION
    NIRVANA ASIA
    AGE: 65


21. LEE OI HIAN
    & HAU HIAN
    $835 MILLION
    BATU KAWAN
    AGES: 69, 66


22. LIM KANG HOO
    $765 MILLION
    ISKANDAR WATERFRONT HOLDINGS
    AGE: 64


23. VINCENT TAN
    $750 MILLION
    BERJAYA CORP.
    AGE: 68

24. LIM PENG CHEONG

& PENG JIN

$685 MILLION

SCIENTEX

AGES: 57, 52

25. SYED AZMAN SYED
    IBRAHIM
    $675 MILLION
    WESTSTAR AVIATION SERVICES
    AGE: 59

Taking the Reins

LEE YEOW CHOR, LEE YEOW SENG

CHANGE IN WEALTH KEY:

UP DOWN UNCHANGED

NEW TO THE LIST RETURNEE

Lee Shin Cheng (center) had appointed his two sons before his death, Lee Yeow Seng (left) and Lee Yeow Chor.

Lee Yeow Chor and Lee Yeow Seng are the

two sons of the late tycoon Lee Shin Cheng,

and heirs to his IOI palm oil and property

fortune. They debut on the list following

their father’s death on June 1, two days shy

of his 80th birthday.

Their shared $4.8 billion fortune shrunk

11% over the past year, due largely to a

roughly 29% slump in IOI Properties Group

shares, as an oversupply in the Malaysian

property market weakened prices, among

other factors such as the U.S.-China trade

disputes, Brexit and weak commodities

prices. Meanwhile, IOI Corp.’s shares fell

less than 2% as concerns the corona-virus

would hurt demand were offset by dry

weather curtailing supplies. The company

declined to comment.

Lee Shin Cheng had appeared on every

Malaysian rich list since 2007. He built IOI

Corp. into a $7 billion (market cap) palm oil

giant with operations in eight countries and

IOI Properties into a $1.7 billion (market

cap) company. The two companies are com-

monly referred to together as the IOI group.

Lee Shin Cheng grew up poor on a rubber

plantation, leaving school at 11 to help his

family by selling ice cream from a bicycle,
then returning to finish his schooling four
years later. In 1961, he tried to get a job at
plantation firm Dunlop Estates, but was
rejected. “I was very disappointed but I de-
cided to work harder and not give up,” Lee
told a local newspaper in 2017.
Instead, he found work at a small rub-
ber plantation and rose to become estate
manager by the age of 30. He started what
would become IOI Properties in 1975, ac-
quired Industrial Oxygen Incorporated (the
original name of IOI) in 1982, then entered
palm oil. In an ironic twist, he bought Dun-
lop Estates in 1989.
Lee is survived by his wife Hoong May
Kuan, his six children—including daughters
Yoke Ling, Yoke Har, Yoke Hean, and Yoke
Hui—as well as 12 grandchildren. Yeow Chor,
53, is IOI Corp.’s group managing director
and CEO, and sits on IOI Properties’ board.
Yeow Seng, 41 and a London-trained lawyer,
is CEO of IOI Properties. He is married to
Yeo Bee Yin, former environment minister
for Malaysia. Their sister Lee Yoke Har is an
executive director at IOI Properties.
THE STAR, MALAYSIA —Anis Shakirah Mohd Muslimin