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Hong Kong. Asia billionaires including India’s Mukesh Ambani and Hong Kong’s Li Ka-shing increased their wealth as the region’s rich expanded their fortunes at the world’s quickest pace in the past year, Forbes magazine said.

Asia’s billionaires have a combined worth of $729 billion, up from $357 billion a year ago, Forbes said. The wealth of their US and European peers jumped 18 percent and 50 percent.

Faster economic expansion in countries such as China and India has boosted personal wealth as the United States and Europe stagnated or shrank. The resumption of growth in Asia’s capital markets also helped swell the ranks of billionaires, with initial public offerings raising $41 billion in the region in 2009, excluding Japan and Australia.

“For the first time, mainland China has the most billionaires outside the US,” Forbes said. “US citizens still dominate the ranks, but their grip is slipping.”

The number of Asian billionaires increased to 234 from 130 a year earlier, with China and India leading the way. Asia’s share of global billionaires jumped 7 percentage points over the year to 23 percent, Forbes said.

Mukesh, chairman of Reliance Industries, is the top billionaire in Asia. His global standing rose to fourth from seventh place a year earlier after his net worth increased almost 50 percent to $29 billion, Forbes said.

He is followed by Lakshmi Mittal, chairman and chief executive officer of ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel maker. The global economic recovery boosted the company’s share price, expanding Mittal’s personal wealth by almost 50 percent to $28.7 billion, making him the world’s fifth-richest person.

 

Bloomberg