Singapore's billionaire population grows to 32
Singapore is now home to 32 billionaires who have a combined wealth of US$65 billion, up from 27 last year, according to the new Wealth-X and UBS Billionaire Census 2014.
The city-state has the third highest number of billionaires in Asia, behind Hong Kong which is home to 82 billionaires and Beijing with 37.
Most of Singapores ultra-rich are foreign-born, with approximately 66 percent of them making the business move here.
Singapores growing importance as a hotspot for billionaires and hub for foreign capital flows has enabled numerous individuals to seize opportunities in the city-states finance, banking and investment industry. Like Hong Kong, real estate is also a key industry in Singapore and many new property developments offer the potential for further wealth gains, said Wealth-X.
Billionaires in Singapore have a mean net worth of US$2.0 billion and the average age of a billionaire here is 62 years. Around 91 percent of Singapores billionaires have at least partially made their own wealth, and 75 percent of their primary businesses are privately owned.
In addition, 16 percent of Singapores billionaires have no formal education beyond high school. There are no female billionaires in the country.
The report also stated that Singapore has the second most billionaires per capita in Asia, with 5.8 billionaires per million people. Hong Kong was top with 11.2 billionaires per million people.
Meanwhile, there are 560 billionaires in Asia with a combined net worth of US$1.41 trillion. China leads the rest of the region with 190 billionaires.
Globally, 2,325 billionaires exist today with total wealth holdings of US$7.3 trillion. Since 2013, 155 new billionaires have been added to the list.
Wealth-X used a proprietary valuation model to assess all asset holdings including privately and publicly held businesses and investible assets to develop its Net Worth Valuation.
8 facts about Singapore's billionaires
Source: Wealth-X & UBS Billionaire Census 2014
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Singapore Editor of PropertyGuru Group, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
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