WEALTHY FILIPINOS: There have been some seismic changes at the top of this year’s Forbes list of the most wealthy Filipinos.
Jumping into second place is house-builder and mall operator Manny Villar, who has seen his wealth triple in just one year to $5 billion.
This was largely down to shares in his Golden Bria (formerly Golden Haven) leaping a staggering 1,300 per cent in the first quarter of this year.
In its list of Filipino billionaires issued by Forbes in March last year, Villar was listed in tenth place with little over one billion. In 2017, the second-richest was John Gokongwei. He is now in third place with a net wealth of $4.4 billion.
Retaining his top spot for another year, with an apparently unassailable $18.3 billion fortune, is Henry Sy of SM Investments.
The new ranking of the 50 richest Filipinos published yesterday (Wednesday, September 5) reveals an unusually volatile year, with 19 seeing net worths shift 20 per cent or more, compared with just 12 last year.
Ramon Ang, Inigo and Mercedes Zobel and Eduardo Cojuangco were among those on the upside, thanks to shares in San Miguel, the country’s largest beer brewer, rising 70 per cent from a year ago. In July it announced plans to invest $1 billion in ten new breweries across the Philippines and in other countries.
Seven newcomers made the list, including self-made fashion designer Josie Natori and Necisto Sytengco of chemical-trading outfit SBS Philippines.
Isidro Consunji and his siblings replace their founder father, David, who died last September. Others who make their debut are William Belo of big-box chain Wilcon Depot, Jerry Liu of semiconductor maker Cirtek Holding, and Rafael Simpao and Alberto Villarosa of Security Bank.
However, 27 fortunes declined. Media tycoons Gilberto Duavit, Menardo Jimenez and Felipe Gozon fell as shares in their GMA Network dropped by 11 per cent. The network posted a 21 per cent decline in earnings for the first half of 2018.
The biggest loser was Betty Ang of noodle giant Monde Nissin, who shed 70 per cent of her total on a sharp fall in net income, according to the latest available annual report.
Mining magnates Philip Ang and Luis Virata dropped off the list as the sector suffered from tighter state regulations on nickel extraction and increased competition from Indonesia.
The list was compiled using information from the individuals, stock exchanges, analysts, private databases, government agencies and other sources. Net worths were based on stock prices and exchange rates as of the close of markets on August 24, 2018.
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