Goh owns most of Nippon Paint, the largest paint maker in Asia. The Osaka, Japan-based company produces paints in about 45 countries. The Singaporean billionaire's Wuthelam Holdings merged with Nippon Paint in 2020 after a long association with the publicly traded company. His son Goh Hup Jin is the chairman of Nippon Paint.
The majority of Goh's fortune is derived from a 55% stake in publicly-traded, Osaka-based Nippon Paint. Nippon Paint is the largest paint maker in Asia and has operations in about 45 countries, according to the company's website.
He owns the shares through Nipsea International, which is wholly owned by the family's holding company Wuthelam Holdings, according to the Nippon Paint's 2023 second-quarter report. Wuthelam acquired a majority stake in the paint maker in a deal that was completed in January 2021. The deal involved buying out their joint ventures in other parts of Asia. Nippon Paint took over Wuthelam's wholly owned Indonesia business.
Goh and his family own all of Wuthelam, according to a submission by Wuthelam subsidiary Nipsea International to the Jasdaq Securities Exchange on Jan. 22, 2013. Goh is credited with the entire stake because he's the founder. His son Goh Hup Jin is chairman of Nippon Paint.
The value of his cash investments is based on an analysis of dividends and stock transactions, as well as taxes and market performance.
No response was received to an e-mail requesting comment on Goh's net worth from Wuthelam's subsidiary Nipsea.
Goh Cheng Liang was born in 1927 to a father who was unemployed and a mother who washed laundry, according to an interview with Singapore's Business Times in 1997.
When the British army auctioned off surplus stocks of rotten paint in 1949, he bought several barrels and started mixing the paint with colors. He created his first business under the brand Pigeon Paint. When the Korean War broke out in 1950, the Singaporean government introduced restrictions on imports and Pigeon's domestic sales soared.
He went to Denmark to learn paint manufacturing technology and on his return agreed to partner with Japan's Nippon Paint Holdings. They formed Singapore-based Nipsea Group in 1962, which became one of the region's largest paint makers. The billionaire made an unsolicited takeover bid for Nippon Paint in January 2013, withdrew it two months later, and agreed to a strategic alliance with Nippon Paint in February 2014 that saw Wuthelam increase its stake in its Japanese partner to 39 percent stake.
Goh Cheng Liang's holding company, Wuthelam, diversified into real estate, property developments and logistics, and financed the construction of Singapore's Liang Court mall and Mount Elizabeth Hospital in the 1970s and 1980s.
His son Goh Hup Jin is the chairman of Nipsea Group. The billionaire lives in Singapore.