In what could be called as a lavish fight, a pair of rival billionaires set a new world record at a French nightclub to see who could order the most champagne.

Zhen Low – the younger brother of big-spending Malaysian billionaire Jho Low – squared off against Winston Fisher of the prominent New York real-estate family Thursday night at Les Caves du Roy nightclub in St. Tropez.

The bill? A staggering 2 million euros, or $2.6 million, according to an announcement made at the club.

Hong Kong’s billionaire tycoons enjoy a status close to royalty in Asia’s wealth-obsessed financial hub.

The city’s richest man Li Ka-shing has the fame of a movie star, while the court case involving the will of eccentric pig-tailed billionaire Nina Wang last year enthralled Hong Kong with its brew of sex, money and power.

But Wang’s death in 2007 and the hospitalisation last year of casino tycoon Stanley Ho were a stark reminder that some of Hong Kong’s 40 richest tycoons — synonymous with its post-war economic success — are in their twilight years.

They will leave behind eye-popping fortunes worth more than 130 billion US dollars and vast business empires that control everything from supermarkets and property development to ports and telecoms.

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who is rated by Forbes magazine as the world’s 37th richest person, plans to give away most of his $13.5 billion fortune.

In the statement, Allen said his estate would support causes including not-for-profit scientific research such as the Allen Institute for Brain Science.

His declaration came a month after Gates and fellow billionaire Warren Buffett launched a campaign dubbed the “giving pledge” that urges America’s richest individuals to commit half of their fortunes to charitable causes.

Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim may be the world’s richest man but he limits his monthly salary to $24,000 and travels in a Suburban, according to his biography.

Mr Slim, 70, knocked Bill Gates form the top of the Forbes list of the world’s billionaires this year with an estimated fortune of US$53.5 billion.

He began his business career aged 10, selling sweets and drinks to his family and later made his name with aggressive investments during crises.

Asia-Pacific millionaires are collectively worth more than their European counterparts for the first time, with the rich in China and India leading the way.

The report on high-net worth individuals (HNWIs) — defined as anyone with investible assets of at least one million US dollars — was issued by Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and consultancy firm Capgemini.

The world’s population of HNWIs returned to 10 million in 2009, with the largest concentrations still found in the United States, Japan and Germany.

“The Asia-Pacific HNWI population rose 25.8 percent overall to three million, catching up with Europe for the first time, after falling 14.2 percent in 2008″.

Warren Buffett’s lunch auction rose to a record of $2.63 million in the 11th annual charity fundraiser.

That’s about 24 percent higher than the previous record, set in 2008 when hedge-fund manager Zhao Danyang of Hong Kong paid $2.11 million.

The chance to have lunch with the celebrated billionaire investor drew nine bidders and 77 bids, according to Ebay.