This story appears in the Apr/May 2024 issue of Forbes Asia. Subscribe to Forbes Asia
This story is part of Forbes’ coverage of Malaysia’s Richest 2024. See the full list here.
Malaysia’s expanding economic ties with Singapore have made the southern state of Johor, where a new special economic zone is to be created, an investment hotspot for its tycoons.
Notable among them is property and construction magnate Lim Kang Hoo, whose firm, Ekovest Construction, a unit of his listed Ekovest, was awarded a nearly 2 billion ringgit ($422 million) contract in 2022 to build a rail link between the two neighbors that is now nearly two-thirds complete.
Looking to leverage his group’s massive land bank in Johor, Lim announced a restructuring plan in September to consolidate privately held Knusford and Iskandar Waterfront Holdings as well as listed Iskandar Waterfront City (IWC) under Ekovest.
In anticipation of the move, shares of Ekovest and IWC rallied 29% and 128%, respectively, boosting Lim’s fortune, which he shares with his family, to $595 million. In March IWC said it would spend almost $1 billion to build two mixed-use developments and a waterfront township on a 25-kilometer stretch facing the Straits of Johor.
