Henry Sy again tops list of 50 richest Filipinos

MANILA, Philippines–The 50 richest people and families in the Philippines—led for the seventh year in a row by SM Investments Corp. patriarch Henry Sy—saw their fortunes rise twice faster than the pace of domestic economic growth this year.

The country’s top 50 wealthiest folks expanded their combined net worth by about 12 percent to $74 billion this year, based on the latest ranking by Forbes Magazine.

The net worth of the wealthy 50 is a whopping P3.23 trillion (at Thursday’s rate of P43.7 to the US dollar), or 28 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013.

The GDP is the total value of goods produced and services rendered in a given period.

In a press statement Thursday, Forbes Magazine said this year’s list reflected two driving forces of the Philippine economy: construction and consumption.

Sy was estimated to have increased his net worth by $700 million to $12.7 billion, attributed to the rising share prices of property arm SM Prime Holdings and banking arm Banco de Oro Unibank.

The Sy family recently consolidated all property businesses into SM Prime to create the largest property company in Southeast Asia in terms of capitalization, while BDO is the biggest bank in the Philippines.

Lucio Tan, who consolidated key business units into the listed LT Group Inc., remained in second place with a net worth of $6.1 billion although the tycoon has a lot of privately held assets overseas which may not have been factored in Forbes’ ranking.

Port and casino tycoon Enrique Razon Jr. saw his wealth rise to $5.2 billion from $4.5 billion a year ago, clinching the third place.

Betting big on casino

Forbes said Razon was placing a big bet on expanding his Solaire Resort & Casino and was mapping out expansion plans in Macau, Japan and Latin America.

Likewise seen “riding high on the country’s prosperity” was Manuel Villar of Starmalls, operator of shopping centers and founder of property developer Vista Land & Lifescapes.

The net worth of Villar, a former presidential candidate and senator, rose to $1.46 billion, up $410 million from a year ago, good for 14th place.

David Consunji, founder of DMCI Holdings, added more than $1 billion to his net worth, bringing it to $3.9 billion (No. 6), as the strength in DMCI stock helped boost the construction tycoon’s fortunes, the magazine said.

Four newcomers

Forbes also noted four newcomers on this year’s list:

— Ricardo S. Po and family of canned food company, Century Pacific Group (No. 21, with a net worth of $770 million).

— Dean Lao, cofounder of D&L Industries (No. 26, $625 million).

— Raul and Jose Concepcion and family, twin brothers who took over their father’s manufacturing and food businesses, Concepcion Industrial and RFM Corp. (No. 34, $320 million).

— Pawnshop titan P.J. Lhuillier of Cebuana Lhuillier, (No. 49, $180 million).

Family fortunes

Unlike Forbes’ annual ranking of billionaires, this list includes family fortunes, including those shared among extended families such as that of John Gokongwei Jr. and his relatives.

Net worths were based on stock prices and exchange rates as of the close of markets on Aug. 18 while private companies were valued based on similar companies that were publicly traded, the magazine said.

The minimum amount required to make the list was $170 million, up from $105 million last year.–Doris C. Dumlao and Inquirer Research