Singapore Billionaire Breaks The Mold By Privatizing Contract Manufacturer

This story is part of Forbes’ coverage of Singapore’s Richest 2021. See the full list here.

Yao Hsiao Tung jumped six spots to No. 41 on the list with a fortune of $1.03 billion after taking Hi-P International private. The move gave him full control over one of Singapore’s largest contract manufacturers of tech gear such as smartphones and computers. The deal valued his company at S$1.6 billion ($1.2 billion).

In April, Yao, executive chairman and CEO, bought the remaining 16.5% of Hi-P shares he didn’t already own after making an unconditional offer last year of S$2 a share—a 13.6% premium over the last traded price. At the time, Yao said he no longer needed to tap the markets for capital and a delisting meant more management flexibility. Despite the pandemic headwinds, Hi-P’s net profit in 2020 rose 9% to S$87 million year-on-year, on a 17% jump in revenue to S$1.6 billion, buoyed by global demand for tech products.

Yao, 81, became an entrepreneur in 1980 with a S$50,000 investment in a struggling Singaporean mold maker, then called Hi-P Tool & Die. Within three years he was running the company; a decade later he expanded to China, now home to five of Hi-P’s 13 manufacturing plants. Its listing on the Singapore exchange in 2003 raised $83 million.