The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
For the eighth consecutive year, property, retail and banking tycoon Henry Sy, whose conglomerate owns the chain of SM Supermalls in the Philippines and China, has remained the country’s richest, with his net worth up $1.7 billion from last year to $14.4 billion.
Forbes Philippines, which put together the list, said the country has the oldest profile among Asia’s rich lists and a passing of the baton from the aging founders has been taking place in some of the largest family-centered Filipino conglomerates.
Forbes said families have gone about the transition in different forms, some enlisting outside professionals, others choosing to keep the business firmly led by the next generation.It cited, for instance, the Sy family, which Forbes said can be considered the model in smooth intergenerational transition.
“At age 90, Henry Sy, the country’s richest man, still is chairman of his retail and property juggernaut SM Prime Holdings. Yet he seems far removed from management,” Forbes said.
Sy’s children each have roles in the family’s various businesses, and his eldest, Teresita Sy-Coson, is often seen as the heir apparent, it said.
Forbes said Sy-Coson has been working in the family business for 45 years, helping build it into the retail giant it is today and being credited with turning Banco de Oro from a small player to the country’s largest bank.
Forbes said the value of Sy’s publicly traded conglomerates SM Investments rose 17 percent and SM Prime Holdings 20 percent over the past year.
His companies announced record income from banking and retail businesses and two new mall partnerships in 2014. Sy also has a stake in privately owned power supplier National Grid Corp.John Gokongwei Jr. of JG Summit conglomerate that owns SM’s rival, mall chain Robinsons, is the second richest, with a net worth of $5.5 billion.
Forbes said Gokongwei moved up three spots after his company’s stocks rose 30 percent, boosted by revenue growth in its petrochemical business and investments in Meralco, the Philippines’s largest power distributor.
JG Summit also has interests in food and beverage, airlines, telecoms, property development, banking, retail, and hotels.
Forbes compiles the net wealth of the Philippines’s richest, based on stock prices and exchange rates, with the value of private companies based on similar companies that are publicly traded.
Alliance Global’s Andrew Tan climbed a notch to the third place despite a drop in his net worth to $4.5 billion from the previous $5.1 billion. His company’s stock price is 11 percent lower due to a drop in income from its resort and casino operations.
Lucio Tan of LT Group, whose businesses include stakes in beverages, tobacco, distilled spirits, banking and property is fourth with a net worth of $4.3 billion. Tan is also chairman of Philippine Airlines.
Fifth is International Container Terminal Services’s Enrique Razon Jr., who is worth $4.1 billion.
Rounding out the top 10 are George Ty, the Abotiz Family, Jaime Zobel de Ayala, David Consunji, and Tony Tan Caktiong.