Latest news with #paintindustry
Malay Mail
6 days ago
- Business
- Malay Mail
Singapore's richest man, Nippon Paint tycoon Goh Cheng Liang, dies at 98
SINGAPORE, Aug 12 — Goh Cheng Liang, founder of Wuthelam Group and Singapore's richest person, died today at the age of 98, his family said, according to a report published in The Straits Times today. According to Forbes' 2025 ranking of the world's billionaires, Goh topped the list for Singapore with an estimated net worth of US$13 billion (RM55 billion). He held a majority stake in Japan's Nippon Paint Holdings, which he helped build into a global coatings powerhouse. Born in 1927, he grew up in a rented shophouse room in River Valley and was sent to Johor during World War II, where he helped sell fishing nets. In 1949, he bought surplus paint from a British army auction and began making his own Pigeon Brand paints using a Chinese dictionary to decipher chemical names. His business boomed during the Korean War when imports were restricted. He later became Nippon Paint's distributor in Singapore and founded Wuthelam Holdings in 1974, building it into a multinational company with nearly 60 per cent of Nippon Paint. Goh's other ventures included developing and later selling the former Liang Court mall and Mount Elizabeth Hospital. Known for avoiding publicity, he told The Business Times in 1997 that he preferred private companies to public ones. Through the Goh Foundation, he funded cancer research, treatment facilities and scholarships, and supported welfare agencies in Singapore as well as roads, schools and sanitation systems in Chaozhou, China. A cancer survivor himself, he also backed the Goh Cheng Liang Proton Therapy Centre at the National Cancer Centre Singapore. He is survived by three children, eight grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
Reuters
13-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Exclusive: Birla's big paints bet rattles Asian Paints' India reign
BENGALURU, May 13 (Reuters) - India's top paint maker, Asian Paints ( opens new tab, has lost more market share than analysts expected to rival Grasim Industries ( opens new tab in the year since billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla's ambitious paints venture was launched, according to Elara Securities data shared exclusively with Reuters. Asian Paints' market share fell to 52% from 59% in the 12 months ending March 31, Elara Securities data shows, raising the pressure on the industry leader to spend more on marketing and discounts to retain its crown. Birla Opus' market share reached 6.8% in the latest quarter. "Whenever a new entrant comes, its strategies are aggressive. But this time, the scale is much bigger," said Geojit Financial Services analyst Antu Thomas, who had expected Grasim to gain only 1%-2% in market share from Asian Paints. Birla Opus, which is the paints arm of the Aditya Birla Group company Grasim, has borrowed heavily from Asian Paints' playbook to gain ground in the $9.5 billion sector that also features Berger Paints ( opens new tab, Kansai Nerolac ( opens new tab, Indigo Paints ( opens new tab and Akzo Nobel India ( opens new tab. After its February 2024 launch with an investment of 100 billion rupees ($1.18 billion), it expanded the paint sector's capacity at a pace never seen before, analysts said. It offered deep discounts to lure paint dealers, hired mid-level managers from Asian Paints, and set up factories near its entrenched rival's units, according to Reuters interviews with paint dealers and former Asian Paints employees. "Asian Paints formed 70% of my annual paints sales in 2023. In 2024, the share was 30%," said Sunny Rahman, a paint dealer in the eastern city of Kolkata, who switched brands to take advantage of lower prices. The moves have hurt Asian Paints, which reported a larger-than-expected 45% drop in fourth-quarter profit last week and warned that demand conditions were at their worst in decades. "In a market which is already slow, the intensity of competitive action has been much more," Asian Paints CEO Amit Syngle said on the post-earnings conference call. "I think it is a double-whammy." Asian Paints did not respond to requests seeking further comment. Birla Opus CEO Rakshit Hargave told Reuters his company had no plans to slow down. "Our objective is to gain market share, and I think, in the plan that we have, we have built in for the fact that we will do so," Hargave said. He denied the location of Birla Opus factories was decided based on proximity to Asian Paints' units and said Birla Opus was hiring across the sector. Industry watchers expect the market share battle to intensify further this year, with analysts at ICICI Securities flagging "downside risks" to Asian Paints' outlook calling for EBITDA margin (operating profitability) of 18%-20%. "The way forward for Asian Paints is not to take steep discounts. It will do well by introducing more products with differential value," Thomas said. ($1 = 84.8530 Indian rupees)
