Aboitiz company named ‘best managed’ firm in PH

MANILA, Philippines—Cebu-based Aboitiz Equity Ventures is the “best managed” company in the Philippines and the conglomerate’s top honcho Erramon Aboitiz is the best chief executive officer (CEO), according to this year’s regional survey by FinanceAsia magazine.

FinanceAsia, which tallied votes from investors and analysts across the region for its 13th annual poll of Asia’s companies, also cited the following companies for its country awards: Ayala Corp. (“best in corporate governance” and “best in corporate social responsibility,” or CSR) and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (“best in investor relations” and “most committed to a strong dividend policy”).

Cited “best mid-cap company” was Villar-led property developer Vista Land, whose chief finance officer Ricardo Tan was also voted best CFO. Named “best small-cap company” was Yuchengco-led construction firm EEI Corp.

Finance Asia published a list of the top 10 best managed companies as well as those cited for corporate governance, investor relations, CSR and dividend policy.

Joining top-ranked AEV among the country’s “best managed” companies based on this survey were Ayala Land (2nd) and Aboitiz Power and Ayala Corp. (tied for 3rd). Completing the roster were International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI), Bank of the Philippine Islands, PLDT, Vista Land, DMCI Holdings, First Metro Investment Corp. (FMIC), JG Summit and Melco Crown Philippines.

For “best in corporate governance,” joining Ayala were sister companies BPI (2nd) and Ayala Land (3rd). Others in this list were PLDT, AEV, Manila Water, Melco Crown, SM Investments, Vista Land and Aboitiz Power.

For “best in investor relations,” the other awardees were Metro Pacific Investments, Vista Land, Aboitiz Power, Ayala Corp., Universal Robina Corp., AEV, FMIC, ICTSI and Globe Telecom.

Apart from the Ayala parent firm, other Ayala companies were top-billed in the category “best in CSR”: Manila Water, BPI and Ayala Land. Other honorees were San Miguel Corp., Energy Development Corp., Aboitiz Power, Melco Crown Philippines, PLDT, First Gen Corp. and Vista Land.

Joining PLDT on the list of top companies cited for their commitment to a strong dividend policy were Globe Telecom, Aboitiz Power, Manila Electric Co., Universal Robina Corp., Semirara Mining Corp., Vista Land, Manila Water, AEV, Ayala Corp. and BPI.

For “best mid-cap” companies, top honoree Vista Land was followed by La Farge Republic and First Philippine Holdings.

Joining EEI among the top three “best small-cap” companies were Megawide Construction and Trans Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp.

For “best CEO,” Erramon Aboitiz won as chief of Aboitiz Power although he is also CEO of parent conglomerate AEV. Likewise cited as top CEOs were Isidro Consunji of DMCI and Andrew Tan of Alliance Global Group Inc.