Tan Sri Lee Shin Cheng
ACCORDING to Forbes, Malaysia’s largest producer of palm oil is IOI Corp Bhd which is run by Malaysia’s third richest man Tan Sri Lee Shin Cheng. This gentleman’s Net Worth is in the order of $5.5 billion, or at least it was until recently.
Cheng is 69 years old and has six children, all of whom work for IOI. Cheng started off as an oil-palm plantation-field supervisor.
In September 2007, after making a fortune in Malaysia, he made his first foray into Indonesian plantations through two joint-ventures.
In March 2008 he agreed to pay US$135 million to acquire stakes in several plantation companies in Sarawak, Malaysia’s largest state.
Cheng is also a real estate developer building shopping malls and resorts in Malaysia.
Cheng is now somewhat exposed. As real estate prices fall, and palm oil plummets, his net worth is falling rapidly.
With 12 oil extraction mills throughout Malaysia, IOI has the capacity to process 3.9 million tonnes of crude palm oil per year. Its biggest mill in Gomali estate, Johor is able to process 120 tonnes of fresh fruit bunches per hour.
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