KINIBIZ Syed Mokhtar Albukhary maintains his position as the richest bumiputera on the Malaysian Business magazine list of Malaysia's 40 richest individuals.

This despite his estimated wealth halved to RM5.2 billion, after taking five of his companies private in the past twelve months, KiniBiz reported.

The list of Malaysia's 40's richest individuals reveals a combined wealth of RM236 billion.

The top five richest individuals in the list are Robert Kuok with an estimated wealth of RM41.3 billion, Ananda Krishnan (RM35.5 billion), Lim Kok Thay (RM25.3 billion), Quek Leng Chan (RM20.4 billion) and Teh Hong Piow (RM18.1 billion).

'Sugar King' Kuok has been at the top spot of the magazine’s 40 richest Malaysians list for the past 14 years, except in 2003 when he lost out to telecommunications magnate Ananda Krishnan.

The Malaysian Business top 40 richest Malaysians list is based on the value of the individuals’ stakes in listed companies as at Jan 16, 2015 and the latest combined wealth has increased 6.2 percent year-on-year.

Malaysian Business magazine attributes these individuals’ financial standing to the steady economic growth in the first three quarters of 2014.

For the full story please go to KiniBiz .