SMIC, 7 other PH firms on Forbes’ top 2000 companies

EIGHT big Philippine companies led by the iconic conglomerate SM Investments Corp. founded by tycoon Henry Sy Sr. made it to the Forbes Global 2000, touted as the roster of the world’s “largest, most powerful public companies.”

SMIC ranked 911th in this list, which was drawn up by international publication Forbes based on a composite index that equally weighs four indicators: revenues, profits, assets and market value.

In a press statement on Thursday, Forbes said this year’s Global 2000 companies hailed from 61 countries and accounted for combined revenues of $39 trillion, profits of $3 trillion, with assets worth $162 trillion, and a market value of $48 trillion. The full list is available on www.forbes.com/global2000.

SMIC, through its operating units, is the Philippines’ largest player in three businesses – banking, property development and retailing. With the consolidation of its property businesses into SM Prime Holdings, the group has also become a leading player in Southeast Asia.

The magazine noted SMIC’s annual turnover of $5.9 billion, profits of $640 million, assets of $15.9 billion and market value of $16.7 billion.

Joining the Sy-led conglomerate in this roster were Bank of the Philippines Islands (ranked 1243rd), Southeast Asia’s oldest bank; and local telecom giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (1259th); Ty-led Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. (1297th) ; diversified conglomerate Ayala Corp. (1344th) Gokongwei-led JG Summit Holdings (1525th), San Miguel Corp.’s parent firm Top Frontier Investment Holdings (1792nd) and Manila Electric Co. (1808th).

“Thanks to a bull market, the total market value of Global 2000 companies grew 9 percent year-over-year, the most among the four metrics,” Forbes said.

For the first time, Forbes noted that China’s four biggest banks had ended up grabbing the top four spots. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China topped the list for a third consecutive year, while Bank of China jumped five notches to land on the No.4 spot, edging out JP Morgan Chase . Berkshire Hathaway remained at the fifth place, making Warren Buffet’s conglomerate the largest U.S. company this year.

The 13th annual snapshot of the world’s largest companies reflected the dominance of the U.S. and China in the current global business landscape. The number of representatives from China surpassed Japan for the first time.

There were 200 newcomers to this year’s Global 2000, including global household names like Expedia , video games publisher Electronic Arts and luxury jeweller Tiffany & Co.

“Thanks to a rising stock market and strong investor demand, the boom of the global IPO initial public offering) market added more than 20 notable newcomers to the list. In particular, Asian companies took the lead by raising capital, such as Alibaba ’s IPO, the world’s largest IPO ever,” the magazine said.