Who are the richest families in Asia?

MANILA – The richest family in Asia is from South Korea and has a combined wealth of nearly $27 billion, according to Forbes Asia.

In its first Asia’s 50 Richest Families list, Forbes Asia named South Korea’s Lee family, who controls the Samsung Group, as the richest business dynasty in the region.

Second and third-generation Lees run Samsung Group, CJ Group, Shinsegae Group and Hansol Group, with at least 15 other relatives running more than 55 businesses. The entire group has total sales of about $335 billion.

The top 10 richest families in Asia are:

1) Lee from South Korea; $26.6 billion
2) Lee from Hong Kong; $24.1 billion
3) Ambani from India; $21.5 billion
4) Chearavanont from Thailand; $19.9 billion
5) Kwok from Hong Kong; $19.5 billion

6) Kwek/Quek from Singapore, Malaysia; $18.9 billion
7) Premji from India; $17 billion
8) Tsai (Financial) from Taiwan; $15.1 billion
9) Hinduja from India, UK; $15 billion
10) Mistry from India; $14.9 billion

To qualify in the new Forbes list, a family’s wealth and participation in building that fortune has to extend to at least three generations. The minimum combined net wealth to qualify was $2.9 billion.

“Just as a family business brings its useful product to market and evolves from there, this inaugural ranking opens the door to new discoveries in future years,” said Tim Ferguson, editor of Forbes Asia.

From the 50 richest families in Asia, nearly half are of Chinese descent, but none of them is based in mainland China.

Only three families from the Philippines made it to the list. –ABS-CBNnews.com