Six business tycoons from the Philippines led by SM group patriarch Henry Sy made it to Forbes Magazine’s 2012 list of richest people on the planet.
The list includes Lucio Tan, Andrew Tan, Enrique Razon Jr., Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. and Roberto Ongpin. It was the first time for Cojuangco and Ongpin to join the roster of the world’s billionaires (in US dollar terms).
Forbes
published on March 7 its latest gallery of the world’s richest
people, an all-time high 1,226 billionaires, who were worth a record
$4.6 trillion. When the magazine started this tradition of counting
billionaires around the world 25 years ago there were only 140 names.
At
the top of Forbes’ global list is Mexican Carlos Slim, 72, who has
an estimated net worth of $69 billion. Microsoft founder Bill Gates,
56, is second and investment guru Warren Buffet, 81, chair of
Berkshire Hathaway, third.
Sy
and family ranked 116th richest in the world, cementing his title as
the wealthiest man in the Philippines. Forbes estimated his net worth
at $8 billion.
Banking,
retailing
The
87-year-old Sy leads SM Investments, the dominant player in
Philippine banking, retailing and shopping mall development. It is
also a fast-growing player in residential and tourism-oriented
property development. Sy’s group has recently added mining to its
portfolio.
Lucio
Tan and family ranked 314th on the list with an estimated net worth
of $3.5 billion. Lucio Tan, 77, has interests in tobacco and liquor
manufacturing, airline, property and banking. He has vast property
interests in mainland China and is likewise a big investor in Guam.
Property
tycoon Andrew Tan ranked 601st on the global list with a net worth of
$2.1 billion. Andrew Tan, 59, built a fortune on real estate
development, particularly in offering high-rise residential units to
the mass market and in pioneering mixed-use developments to attract
business process outsourcing firms.
He
has also successfully ventured into the gaming business in
partnership with the Genting group of Malaysia. He likewise has
consumer-based interests, including a beverage unit and the
Philippine chain of McDonald’s fast-food stores.
Port
operations
Razon,
52, is the fourth and the youngest tycoon from the Philippines with
an international rank of 683rd. Forbes estimated his net worth at
$1.9 billion. He has built a fortune on international port
operations.
Razon
has unloaded his interest in the country’s electricity transmission
superhighway and is now building a casino-hotel complex in Pagcor
City. He also has an interest in oil exploration.
Cojuangco,
76, is the fifth Philippine tycoon on the list with a global rank of
960th. The 76-year-old chair of San Miguel Corp. (SMC) has an
estimated net worth of $1.3 billion.
Cojuangco
has a 15-percent stake in San Miguel which has diversified from its
traditional food and beverage businesses into power generation, power
distribution (via a minority but significant stake in Manila Electric
Co.), oil refining, mining, toll road, airport, banking and
telecommunications.
Ongpin’s
Ashmore
Ongpin,
75, is ranked 1,153rd on the list with an estimated net worth of $1
billion. Ongpin brought in London-based Ashmore as a partner in
Philippine investments in recent years.
Apart from his interest in
San Miguel and Petron Corp., Ongpin is into real estate, mining and
recently into banking.Compared
to last year, Sy, Lucio and Andrew Tan and Razon significantly
increased their wealth.
Sy
was worth $5.8 billion in 2011 while Lucio Tan, Andrew Tan and Razon
were worth $2.3 billion, $2.2 billion and $1.1 billion, respectively.
With the local stock market outperforming most bourses in the region,
the market capitalization of their respective companies has surged.
Counting
malls
“The
Philippines’ richest man, Henry Sy started out in his father’s
bodega (warehouse) and then opened a shoe store. He now controls the
Philippines’ largest mall developer, with 42 locations; has five in
China, including one that opened last year. Shares in SM Investments,
which makes up bulk of his fortune, popped 50 percent in the past
year. BDO Unibank, run by daughter Teresita Sy-Coson, is the
country’s largest bank,” Forbes said.
BDO
is worth over P1 trillion, the first local bank to breach this mark
in asset base. The Sys also own another big bank, China Bank, which
is run by the tycoon’s sons. The retailing group, operating through
a chain of SM Department stores, hypermarts, supermarkets and
SaveMore, had a turnover of P148.2 billion in 2011.
Tobacco
king
Forbes
described Lucio Tan as a “tobacco king” holding over a third in
Philip Morris-Fortune Tobacco, a joint venture between his privately
held Fortune Tobacco and Philip Morris. The combined entity has an
estimated 80-percent share of the Philippine cigarette market. Tan’s
Asia Brewery is the country’s second largest beer maker, according
to Forbes.
“A
big chunk of fortune comes from Hong Kong-based Eton Properties,”
the magazine said.
“He
got his start as a chemical engineer and mopped floors to pay for
school. Tan enjoys flying helicopters,” Forbes said.
The
publication noted reports that Lucio Tan was in talks to bring in San
Miguel to help refurbish the aging fleet of Philippine Airlines. It
also noted that three of Tan’s companies, Eton Properties, Tanduay
Holdings and PAL Holdings, faced delisting by the Philippine Stock
Exchange for failing to maintain a 10-percent public float.
Second
casino
“Son
of a factory worker, Andrew Tan did odd jobs to put himself through
college. Saved money he earned as a kitchen appliance salesman to buy
a distillery and made his first fortune in brandy. His holding
company, Alliance Global, has interests in food and beverage, real
estate and gaming. With partner Genting Malaysia, he plans to build a
second casino in Pasay City this year,” Forbes said.
Cojuangco was described by Forbes as a “former Marcos crony” who controls San Miguel, a food and beverage conglomerate best known for its beer. Forbes noted that San Miguel had spun off its brewery unit in 2007, diversifying into power, infrastructure and heavy industry.
“In 2010, he sold an option to a group of investors to buy him out for an undisclosed sum. The country’s Supreme Court has ruled that his stake in San Miguel, which the Presidential Commission on Good Government had alleged he got because of his links with the former dictator, wasn’t ill-gotten,” Forbes said.
To unload 15%
The Inquirer reported in May 2010 that Cojuangco had made plans to unload his entire 15-percent equity in San Miguel in favor of trusted allies.
The option to buy his shares for P75 per share was given to a holding firm, Top Frontier Investment Holdings. The holding firm is 49-percent owned by San Miguel itself as represented by Cojuangco’s trusted lieutenant and concurrent company president Ramon Ang. An investor group, which includes Ongpin, Iñigo Zobel and condiments king Joselito Campos, controls 51 percent.
Forbes noted that Ongpin, a former minister of trade during the Marcos regime, had investments in property, gaming, mining and telecommunications. (His interest in telecoms was recently sold to San Miguel and Ongpin instead took a controlling stake in Philippine Bank of Communications).
Ongpin heads Top Frontier, the entity with a controlling interest in San Miguel. “Last November he appeared before a Senate inquiry over a loan from a state-owned development bank, which he claims was above board. He’s a certified public accountant and Harvard Business School graduate,” Forbes said.
Aside from the interests mentioned by Forbes, Ongpin has an interest in media being the deputy chair of South China Morning Post in Hong Kong.
