This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on June 9, 2020 - June 15, 2020
Datuk Seri Stanley Thai
Supermax Corp Bhd
Total shareholdings: 37.218%
Market capitalisation (rm bil): June 5, 2020 — 11.468
Net worth (rm bil)
Dec 31, 2019 — 0.672
June 5, 2020 — 4.27
^534.6%
Tan Sri Lim Wee Chai
Top Glove Corp Bhd
Total shareholdings: 35.437%
Market capitalisation (rm bil): June 5, 2020 — 43.127
Net worth (rm bil):
Dec 31, 2019 — 4.263
June 5, 2020 — 15.28
^258.7%
Tan Sri Lim Kuang Sia
Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd
Total shareholdings: 49.877%
Market capitalisation (rm bil): June 5, 2020 — 11.485
Net worth (rm bil):
Dec 31, 2019 — 2.653
June 5, 2020 — 5.73
^116.2%
Kwan Kam Hon
Hartalega Holdings Bhd
Total shareholdings: 49.466%
Market capitalisation (rm bil): June 5, 2020 — 41.299
Net worth (rm bil):
Dec 31, 2019 — 9.143
June 5, 2020 — 20.43
^123.5%
The Covid-19 pandemic has been bad for the economy but glove makers have seen a bonanza. The share prices of the big four glove makers listed on Bursa Malaysia have surged between 116% and 539% in the first five months of the year, lifting their stock valuations to all-time highs.
Likewise, the wealth of the founders has also skyrocketed, with the combined net worth of the four tycoons standing at over RM42.5 billion.
The largest gain in terms of percentage was recorded by Supermax Corp Bhd’s founder Datuk Seri Stanley Thai, who is now a billionaire. With a 37.2% stake in the company, his net worth has jumped over five times, or RM3 billion, to RM3.7 billion from RM672.59 million at the end of last year.
Thai, 59, does not hold any position in Supermax following his conviction for an insider trading offence in 2017.
Supermax shares shot up over 500% during the period in review and its market capitalisation hit the RM1 billion mark.
Top Glove Corp Bhd founder and executive chairman Tan Sri Lim Wee Chai, 62, has seen his fortune grow almost threefold to RM12.29 billion as a result of a jump of about 250% in the company’s share price. He holds a 35.4% stake in the world’s largest glove manufacturer.
As the largest shareholder with a 49.9% stake in Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd, Tan Sri Lim Kuang Sia, 67, who is also its group managing director and CEO, is now RM2.9 billion richer. His wealth has more than doubled to RM5.5 billion from RM2.7 billion five months ago.
Of the four men, the king of the hill is Kwan Kam Hon, the founder, executive chairman and managing director of Hartalega Holdings Bhd. Kwan, 73, owns a 49.5% stake in the largest nitrile glove maker in the world and has seen his net worth breach the RM20 billion level to hit a high of RM21 billion — a 130% jump from RM9.14 billion at the end of last year. The company’s share price has risen 122.6% year to date.
In the Forbes Malaysia Rich List 2020 released in March, Kwan took the ninth spot with a net worth of US$2.8 billion (RM12 billion). This was despite a fall in the wealth of the country’s 50 richest people for the second consecutive year amid a weaker ringgit and decline in the stock market.
Filings with the stock exchange show that Kwan, through Budi Tenggara Sdn Bhd, disposed of five million shares or a 0.15% stake on May 22, for RM46.5 million or RM9.30 per share.
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