Xinhua, Singapore :
Singapore’s richest got even richer. The billionaires club in Singapore has expanded to 26 this year, up from 21 in 2013, said Forbes Asia Thursday.
The combined net wealth of Singapore’s 50 richest in 2014 is 97. 13 billion U.S. dollars. The richest in the city-state again goes to property tycoon Robert and Philio Ng, the brothers who own hotel and mall conglomerate Far East Organization and Sino Land. They added 2.2 billion U.S. dollars to their fortune on rising values of their companies, pushing up their net worth at 12.8 billion US dollars.
Chairman of City Developments, Kwek Leng Beng and his family seized the second place with a net wealth of 7.8 billion U.S. dollars. And the Khoo family, which takes charge of Goodwood Group of Hotels, ranked the third with a net wealth of 7 billion U.S. dollars.
Other biggest gainers include Eduardo Saverin, co-founder of Facebook, who has gained almost 1.6 billion U.S. dollars since August 2013 with the climb in the value of Facebook shares, pushing his total net wealth to 4.2 billion U.S. dollars this year.
Among the seven newcomers of the 50 richest list, two entered the list after taking their companies public: shipping veteran Pang Yoke Min of Pacific Radiance, an offshore vessel supplier, and Lim Chap Huat of property group Soilbuild.
The list was compiled using shareholding and financial information obtained from the families and individuals, stock exchanges, analysts and other sources. Unlike the Forbes billionaire rankings, this list includes family fortunes such as those shared among extended families. Net worths are based on stock prices and exchange rates as of the close of markets on July 11, Forbes Asia said.
