Amore Pacific chief becomes No. 2 stock-rich person

Suh Kyung-bae, chairman of South Korea's top cosmetic maker Amore Pacific Group, has overtaken Samsung Group's heir-apparent to become South Korea's second-richest man in stock value, climbing the stock-rich ladder by one notch, market data showed Thursday.

At the end of March, Suh's stocks were valued at $8 billion, or 8.8 trillion won. The second richest man in South Korea relegated Lee Jay-yong, vice chairman of South Korean tech firm Samsung Electronics Co., to a third spot, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index.

Lee, the heir apparent of Samsung Group, South Korea's top conglomerate, held stocks worth $7.5 billion, and his father Lee Kun-hee topped the list of stock-rich persons in the country with $12.8 billion.

Shares of Amore Pacific have surged some 50 percent this year closing at 3,337,000 won on the Seoul bourse on Wednesday.

The shares of the cosmetics giant have been climbing as its business thrives on demand from China and other Asian markets. It decided earlier this month to split its stock to boost circulation by making the shares more affordable to retail investors.

Suh has already bypassed Chung Mong-koo, the owner of Hyundai Motor Group, the world's fifth-biggest automotive conglomerate. (Yonhap)