The chairman of South Korea's top cosmetics maker AmorePacific Group become the country's second businessman with stock holdings worth more than 10 trillion won (9.2 billion) on Thursday as shares of listed subsidiaries surged, industry data showed.

Suh Kyung-bae had 10.37 trillion won of shares in the four group subsidiaries as of Thursday, according to the data complied by corporate tracker Chaebul.com. Suh follows Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee, who holds stocks worth 12.35 trillion won, Suh and Lee are the only business tycoons in South Korea who have reached the plateau, which Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo has never touched.

Suh's stock holdings were up 70 percent, or 4.29 trillion won, from the beginning of this year as brisk cosmetics sales in China pushed up prices of flagship AmorePacific Corp. and other subsidiaries.

AmorePacific posted 211.4 billion won in net profit in the first quarter, up 72 percent from a year earlier, with its sales jumping 29.2 percent on-year to 1.2 trillion won.

Shares of Amore G, the group's holding company, rose 5.37 percent to close at 176,500 won on the Seoul bourse, while AmorePacific, which conducted a 10-for-1 stock split early this month, slipped 0.51 percent to 387,000 won. (Yonhap)