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The ultra-wealthy are getting, well, ultra-wealthier.
The ultra-wealthy are getting, well, ultra-wealthier.
One more billionaire in Singapore, lots more wealth

Singapore - The ultra-wealthy are getting, well, ultra-wealthier.

While Singapore has minted just one more billionaire this year - adding to the list that stood at 26 last year - the total wealth of this exclusive club has increased 12 per cent from US$57 billion (S$71 billion) to US$64 billion.

Relative to population, only Luxembourg, Hong Kong and Switzerland have more billionaires than Singapore.

The census findings released by Wealth-X and UBS showed that Singapore has 5.1 billionaires per million people this year, compared to 4.9 per million last year.

The average Singapore billionaire is 64 years old and has a wealth of US$2.4 billion, enough to buy 5,000 four-room Housing Board flats.

He belongs to a men's club, with only one woman in the ranks. He's likely to hold a bachelor's degree and quite likely to say he's a self-made man.

Click here to see the billionaires in Singapore.

A Credit Suisse report last month showed that Singapore was home to 174,000 millionaires. But income inequality has been an issue - with the Gini coefficient rising - even though Credit Suisse said that the average Singaporean's wealth had gone up 6.8 per cent in a year to US$282,000 (including the worth of his home, if he owned it).

Explaining the increase in billionaires' wealth, Bank of America Merrill Lynch's Dr Chua Hak Bin said they could have amassed more money through investments.

"Properties and stocks have done well in a number of places, including the US, Australia and parts of Europe. They would have diversified globally," he said.

Click here to see the billionaires in Singapore.


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The ultra-wealthy are getting, well, ultra-wealthier. Described as one of Singapore's best-known and least-celebrated tycoons by American business magazine Forbes, Teochew tycoon Goh Cheng Liang, 85, never went to school or inherited a family business. As a boy, he picked up skills while selling fishing nets and as an apprentice at Tan Chong Huat hardware store. The self-starter then started to experiment by mixing up different solvents and later created his own brand of paint 'Pigeon'.
To advance his business, Goh went to Denmark to learn paint manufacturing technology. His big break came when Nippon Paint approached him for a business venture. Goh then launched into a 60-40 joint venture with Nippon, and a Thai partner. In a 1997 Business Times interview, Goh said he was '75 per cent retired' and leaves his son, Goh Hup Jin, to oversee the company together with a team of professionals. Today, the annual turnover stands at US$2.6 billion (S$3.25 billion). The frugal Teochew tycoon only indulgence is deep-sea fishing and scuba diving on board White Rabbit II, his $37 million three-deck yacht. He stopped playing golf due to his kneecap and he was never fond of entertainment such as cinemas and KTVs.
In Singapore, many are not aware that some of the most prominent landmarks such as high profile medical centre Mt. Elizabeth Hospital and Liang Court (above) at night life area Clarke Quay were built by this business magnate. Currently in his mid-eighties, the media-shy billionaire rarely gives interviews or make appearances. Above: Goh (left) presenting a $10 million donation to the National Heart Centre in 2008 with ESM Goh Chok Tong and Associate Prof Koh Tian Hai. In 2009, The Straits Times reported the foundation donated $12m towards leukaemia research and in 2012, an undisclosed grant was given to a project to develop the first risk-free drug test using the patient's own skin, reported The New Paper.
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