Li Ka-shing China’s richest man on Hurun list

Hong Kong businessman Li Ka-shing was China's richest man last year, while Zong Qinghou, chairman of beverage giant Hangzhou Wahaha Group, was the richest in the mainland, according to the Hurun Research Institute on Tuesday.

The Shanghai-based compiler of the Chinese rich list released its first global rich list yesterday.

Mexican telecommunications billionaire Carlos Slim was the richest man in the world, with personal assets of $55 billion, followed by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, with wealth of $50 billion and $48 billion, respectively.

Li Ka-shing ranked 13th on the Hurun Global Rich List 2012, with an estimated wealth of $24 billion, while Zong Qinghou was ranked 78th richest, with an estimated fortune of $10.5 billion.

"Some 18 percent of billionaires on the list are engaged in finance and investment, the biggest wealth source, while for China real estate remains the largest fortune creator," said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman of the Hurun Report.

More Chinese billionaires will be found in finance, entertainment and culture as well as retail industries in the future, Hoogewerf said.

Among the world's 83 richest men and women, with estimated wealth of at least $10 billion as of February 24, five were Chinese, including four from Hong Kong and one from the mainland, according to the Hurun list.

The country's finance industry will undergo "explosive development" in the next three to five years, and new names will emerge on the rich list as a result, Xu Sitao, chief representative of the Economist Group in China, told the Global Times yesterday.

Liang Wen'gen, chairman of Sany Heavy Industry, who came top of the Hurun China Rich List last year, failed to make the list this year, because of the "sluggish stock market" in China, said Hoogewerf.

"Chinese billionaires will have to compete on a global stage, which makes a global list necessary," he said.

Financial news provider Bloomberg started Monday to publish a world billionaire index that will be updated on a daily basis, a move illustrating people's interest in the world's ultra rich and the competing business forces on the planet.

The top three billionaires on the Hurun list were the same as those on the Bloomberg Billionaire Index and those on the Forbes rich list for 2011.

Forbes magazine is expected to announce its annual ranking of the world's wealthiest people Saturday.