1- Li Ka-shing ($31 B)
Chairman, Hutchison Whampoa
Asia's richest person Li Ka-shing added $5.5 billion to his fortune as shares of his biggest holdings, Cheung Kong, Hutchison Whampoa and Husky Energy, all jumped 10% or more. He scooped up another $860 million in dividends in 2012. At age 84, Li still oversees one of the world's most far-reaching empires with 260,000 employees in 52 countries. Li controlled companies bought British gas supplier Wales & West Utilities for $1 billion in October; his third utilities acquisition in the U.K. in 24 months. He now supplies gas to a quarter of all Brits. Last summer Li officially announced his succession plans, positioning his elder son Victor to take over management and control of the publicly traded assets. Son Richard, also a billionaire who runs his own businesses, will get cash and help on deals. The elder Li is also an investor in Facebook, Spotify, social TV platform Stevie, Kaiima, Everything.Me and Hola.org Kaiima, Everything.Me and Hola.org.
2- Mukesh Ambani ($21.5 B)
Chairman, Reliance Industries
3- Lakshmi Mittal ($20.7 B)
Chairman and CEO, ArcelorMittal
4- Thomas and Raymond Kwok ($20.0 B)
Property tycoons Thomas and Raymond Kwok who run Sun Hung Kai Properties, a dominant player in Hong Kong's frothy real estate market, are set to appear in its biggest corruption trial later this year. In a scandal that rocked Hong Kong and the region, the duo were charged early last year for making $4 million in payments and loans to former chief secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan, in exchange for political leverage. The stock, which tumbled to a one-year low when the scandal broke has since recovered, its reflecting the strength of the real estate market. Family matriarch Kwong Siu-hing survives her husband, hard-driving founder Kwok Tak-seng, who died in 1990, and maintains a say over the family's holdings.
5- Lee Shau Kee ($19.0 B)
The fortune of Lee Shau Kee, chairman of Henderson Land, got over a $2 billion boost as shares of his real estate developer rose in tandem with red-hot property prices in Hong Kong. Lee expects demand in the property market to continue rising this year, despite attempts by Hong Kong authorities to cool the market with higher property taxes for foreign buyers and mortgage restrictions. He recently lobbied for the government to remove expensive land premiums for agricultural land, so that Henderson can build affordable houses. He's reportedly also mulling donating farmland for low-cost housing. Lee's early business partner was Sun Hung Kai Properties founder Kwok Tak-seng.
6- Prince Alwaleed bin Talal ($18.0 B)
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bills himself as the "world's foremost value investor." His Kingdom Holding Company, of which he owns 95% and which trades on the Saudi stock exchange, owns stakes in hotel management companies Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, Movenpick Hotels & Resorts and Fairmont Raffles Holding, as well as hotel real estate such as the swanky Hotel George V in Paris and a stake in the Savoy Hotel in London. Kingdom Holding also owns billions of dollars of U.S. and international equities, including shares of Citigroup and News Corp. In 2012 the Prince and Kingdom Holding bought an estimated 3% stake in Twitter via the secondary market for $300 million. In February Kingdom Holding invested $125 million in Chinese e-commerce company 360Buy Jingdong for an undisclosed stake. The Prince also owns extensive real estate and other assets outside of Kingdom Holding. He was the first individual to purchase an Airbus A380 double decker plane and was supposed to take delivery of it this spring, but Kingdom Holding's Chief Financial Officer informed Forbes that the plane has been sold.
7- Georgina Rinehart ($17.0 B)
Executive Chairman, Hancock Prospecting
Australian mining magnate Gina Rinehart is still the richest woman in the Asia-Pacific region, even though falling iron ore prices have shaved $1 billion off her net worth. That was the least of her troubles in 2012. She lost a legal battle with fellow billionaire Stanley Perron that resulted in her having to forfeit a slice of her royalties in Hamersley Iron, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto that is the original basis of her wealth. She inherited her mining assets from her father, Lang Hancock. But she has feuded with three of her own four children. She cut them out of the family trust, saying they weren't fit to manage the fortune. Her youngest daughter, Gina, sides with Rinehart. Her second husband died in 1990. She is also facing a suit that threatens to wrest away control of a 23.5% stake in another one of her companies, Hancock Prospecting. Over the last year, she adopted a higher public profile and published a book of her favorite speeches and articles. She has lobbied against mining and carbon taxes and pushed to relax Australia's immigration policies. She recently bought two condos on Singapore's Sentosa Island for a total of $45 million.
8- Cheng Yu-Tung ($16.0 B)
Cheng Yu-Tung is one of Hong Kong's great postwar titans of commerce. He retired as chairman of flagship New World Development at the end of 2012, succeeded by son Henry. Rising real estate values nearly doubled the price of New World's Hong Kong-traded stock, but shares in family's Chow Tai Fook Jewellery weakened on disappointing profits. Grandson Adrian oversees family's retail investments, which also include the Giordano clothing store chain. Granddaughter Sonia leads expanding hotel empire.
9- Mohammed Al Amoudi ($13.5 B)
Son of Saudi father and Ethiopian mother, Mohammed Al Amoudi started investing in Sweden in the 1970s. He made his initial fortune in construction in Saudi Arabia, where he continues to add to his project portfolio with new projects for King Saud University and a new medical city complex for the Ministry of Interior. Al Amoudi is also the biggest individual investor in Ethiopia with a portfolio of interests from hotels and gold mines to agriculture and cement. He is growing rice, corn and other staples on thousands of acres, for the home market as well as for export to Saudi Arabia. His cement operations are making waves in Ethiopia with low-priced offerings. In October, Al Amoudi and DanieliSpA inked a $600 million contract to finance construction of Toussa Steel Factory, the largest steel mill in Ethiopia. He also owns oil refineries in Morocco and Sweden and oil fields off west Africa as well as a 70% stake in the National Oil Company of Ethiopia. In Sweden, his Midroc Europe will become 50% owner of the World Village of Women Sports in Malmo, Sweden, a $350 million sports,commercial and residential complex to begin construction in early 2013.
10- Robert Kuok ($12.5 B)
Chinese Malaysian tycoon Robert Kuok made his money in sugar, palm oil, shipping and property. His Kuok Group boasts a huge network of companies under 3 main groups in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. Kuok's net worth is up $100 million compared with March 2012, thanks to newly-discovered assets in China's leading meat manufacturer, Yurun Food Group, and a slight rise in the share price of Hong Kong-listed Shangri-la Hotels and Kerry Properties. Biggest source of wealth is his stake in Wilmar, the world's largest listed palm oil company. But the stock weakened during the past twelve months as palm oil prices slumped. Wilmar is run by his nephew, Kuok Khoon Hong, a Singapore citizen who's also a billionaire thanks to his 10% stake in the company. Robert Kuok also controls the South China Morning Post, once the world's most profitable daily newspaper.