[THE INVESTOR] The family that owns Korea’s No. 1 conglomerate Samsung Group fell a notch in the list of Asia’s richest families, data showed on Nov. 20.

According to the list compiled by Forbes, the Lee family held assets estimated at US$40.8 billion this year, which puts them below India’s Ambani family, who posted US$44.8 billion.

It is the first time the Korean family has surrendered the top spot since Forbes started compiling the data in 2015. The study was conducted on Asia-based business groups that have been managed by one family for at least three generations, Forbes said.

The Ambani family controls Reliance Group, which holds affiliates in various industrial segments, from chemicals to telecommunications.

In Forbes‘ list of Asia’s 50 richest families, India accounted for 18 families, followed by Hong Kong with nine and Singapore with five. Korea and Indonesia had four each.

Korea’s Chung family, which controls Hyundai Motor Group, was also on the list with US$14.8 billion in assets, followed by the Koo family of LG Group with US$8.7 billion.

SK Group’s Chey family made the exclusive list for the first time with assets estimated at US$6.3 billion, Forbes said.

By Alex Lee and newswires (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)