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Malaysia’s rubber glove industry produces a fifth billionaire, as coronavirus boosts demand
- Wong Teek Son, who co-founded Riverstone Holdings in the 1980s, last month became Malaysia’s fifth billionaire from manufacturing gloves
- But the boom in making rubber gloves could reverse, as research for a Covid-19 treatment and vaccine progress
Wong Teek Son, who co-founded Riverstone Holdings in the 1980s after working as a research chemist, last month became the fifth billionaire in the country from manufacturing gloves. He is now worth US$1.2 billion as shares of his company rallied almost sixfold from a low in March, thanks to growing demand for protective products during the coronavirus pandemic.
A Riverstone spokesman declined to comment on Wong’s net worth.
The speed and strength of the gloves boom has been extraordinary, but there are signs the rapid rise could reverse, especially as research for a Covid-19 treatment and vaccine progress.
Glove companies were hammered last week when Russia’s president said his nation had cleared the world’s first Covid-19 vaccine for use, while Moderna and Johnson & Johnson are among those reaching deals with governments to supply their shots.
Riverstone slumped 13 per cent in its worst week since March.
Even though a vaccine may not result in lower demand for gloves, investors may sell their shares in anticipation that it will reduce the number of cases, RHB Research Institute analyst Alan Lim noted in an August 13 report.
When it comes to glove making, Malaysia is king: It produces about 65 per cent of the world’s supply for rubber gloves, and the Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry estimates exports will climb 45 per cent this year.
![Top Glove product Top Mask is pictured on display at its headquarters in Shah Alam, Malaysia. Photo: Reuters](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/methode/2020/08/17/76ff72aa-e059-11ea-8e8d-92e5de2d33e5_1320x770_161312.jpg)
Their shares have jumped more than 192 per cent this year, lifting the net worth of their billionaire founders, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The world’s largest glove producer said last week that while it is continuing discussions with the US, demand is picking up in many other countries where the outbreak is resurfacing.
![A worker carries out a test on a glove at a Top Glove factory outside Kuala Lumpur. Photo: Reuters](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/methode/2020/08/17/b30f08f0-e059-11ea-8e8d-92e5de2d33e5_1320x770_161312.jpeg)
Singapore listing
Unlike its rivals, when Riverstone decided to go public in 2006, it picked neighbouring Singapore. That is because Malaysia had stricter currency controls and the funds raised in the city state were more easily transferable to China and Thailand, where the company was expanding, according to its spokesman.
Riverstone has an annual production capacity of about 9 billion gloves, according to its latest annual report. Its profit more than doubled to 137.5 million ringgit in the first half of the year.
Wong co-founded the maker of nitrile gloves in 1989 after working as a research and development chemist in a company that supplied cleanroom products. He had not planned to venture into building his own business.
“The opportunity presented itself only because the company I worked for shut down, and we were able to use their production lines,” he said in an interview with the Singapore Exchange in 2016.
With the competition being stiff, many peers in Malaysia had to close down. “We realised we needed to provide a service to our customers.”
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