Pandemic sees fifth billionaire created from Malaysia’s glove-making industry

Co-founder of Riverstone Holdings, Wong Teek Son became the fifth billionaire in Malaysia from manufacturing gloves. He’s now worth US$1.2 billion as shares of his company rallied almost sixfold from a low in March due to growing demand during the coronavirus pandemic.

Riverstone latest annual report stated its profit more than doubled to 137.5 million ringgit in the first half of the year. It has an annual production capacity of about 9 billion gloves according to its spokesman.

Mr Wong was working as a research and development chemist in a company that supplied cleanroom products before co-founded Riverstone in 1989.

The maker of nitrile gloves picked neighboring Singapore when it went public in 2006 due to Malaysia’s stricter currency controls.

Malaysia produces about 65 per cent of the world’s supply for rubber gloves with exports expected to climb 45 per cent this year.

Riverstone together with Top Glove Corp and Hartalega Holdings Bhd are among the five most-valuable companies in the country with their shares rising more than 192 per cent this year, lifting their billionaire founders net worth,

However the extraordinary rise of the gloves boom could reverse as research for a Covid-19 treatment and vaccine are seeing progress. Riverstone slumped 13 per cent when Russian president Vladimir Putin said the world’s first Covid-19 vaccine is cleared for use.