Summit's Aziz 34th richest in Singapore: Forbes

Muhammed Aziz Khan

Bangladesh's entrepreneur Muhammed Aziz Khan, chairman of Summit Group, was named as the 34th richest man in Singapore in the Forbes' list for 2018.

His net worth was $910 million as of July 25, said Forbes on its website.

“I am very pleased and happy to be making to the list,” Khan said, according to his company.

Forbes has taken into consideration only the power assets worth $910 million, according to Mohsena Hassan, head of public relations of Summit Corporation. 

All of Khan and his family's assets, which are all in Bangladesh, worth about $1.5 billion, she said in an email.

Khan, a 63-year-old entrepreneur, is one of the pioneers in the power industry of Bangladesh with more than 36 years of experience.

Summit Group is one of the leading private sector conglomerates of Bangladesh, comprising more than 20 business units. It has interests in power, ports, fibre optics, real estate and liquefied natural gas.

A Singapore permanent resident, Khan is planning to list power unit Summit Power International (SPI) on the Singapore exchange.

He ventured into businesses in 1973, at a time when there was hardly any track record of the country producing successful entrepreneurs.

But in the course of the last four decades, Khan has gone on to cement his name among the country's most illustrious businessmen.

He set up Summit Industrial and Mercantile Corporation in 1985, aiming to develop the country's infrastructure.

Today, Summit's subsidiaries are the country's first private sector power generator, a port owner and operator, and provider of information communication connectivity via fibre optic.

Set up in 1997, the SPI is the largest independent power producer in the country.

It has 17 power plants with total generating capacity exceeding 1,644-megawatt.

In July, Summit signed an agreement with Mitsubishi and GE to invest $3 billion to establish five power plants, two LNG terminals and one oil terminal.

Summit set up the country's first private off-dock port facility, Ocean Containers Ltd, now known as Summit Alliance Ports Ltd, which handles about 30 percent of the country's export volume and about 10 percent of the country's import volume, according to Summit Power Ltd's audit report of 2016-17.

Summit Communications, the first company to lay a nationwide telecommunication transmission network, covers 70 percent of Bangladesh and connects Bangladesh to India and Myanmar through terrestrial fibre optics.

Summit Group employs more than 5,000 people.