Wang reclaims top spot among Asia’s rich as property shares jump 18%

Wang Jianlin has become the richest person in Asia again.The chairman and founder of Dalian Wanda Group added $1.6bn to his fortune on Thursday after shares in its publicly traded property unit jumped 18%. The spike, which came after Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties Co said its parent group may privatise the company, increased Wang’s net worth to $31.5bn, putting him $1.8bn ahead of Hong Kong’s Li Ka-shing, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.Alibaba Group Holding chairman Jack Ma began the month as Asia’s No 1 billionaire and ended it as the third richest with $29.2bn.Being Asia’s richest person has been a volatile position lately with Wang, Li and Ma swapping the lead six times in the past month.Thursday’s increase helped Wang claw back some of the $6.6bn that had been wiped from his fortune in 2016 amid a slowing Chinese economy. Wang has announced more than $25bn of investments and acquisitions in 2016, including US film company Legendary Entertainment and a $10bn industrial park in northern India.Ma may get his shot at No 1 again next month as Alibaba’s finance affiliate plans to complete its second round of fundraising and is seeking a valuation of about $60bn, according to a March 2016 Bloomberg News report. That’s up from the $43bn reported in an August 2015 Alibaba presentation.Ma owns 6.3% of Alibaba and 41% of the affiliate, Zhejiang Ant Small & Micro Financial Services Group. The world’s 400 richest people have a combined $4tn, 1% more than they had on January 1. Wang remains $53.6bn short of Bill Gates, the richest man on the planet, with $85bn, according to the Index.