LT Group opens up to more partnerships

MANILA, Philippines - Taipan Lucio Tan, the country’s fourth richest man, who in recent years has opened his vast empire to partners including erstwhile competitors, will continue to do so as part of a strategy to grow the business.

Tan, a migrant from Fujian, China, has built a multi-billion dollar empire in the Philippines that spans a wide range of business — from cigarettes to skyscrapers.

Through the years, he has opened his companies to partners, both foreign and local, with the recent ones involving the deal between Asia Brewery Inc. and Dutch beer giant Heineken, the world’s second largest brewer and that of German insurer Allianz and PNB Life.

Moving forward, the company would continue to be open to partnerships if there are opportunities, said Tan’s son Michael, president and COO of LT Group Inc. (LTG).

“If it’s strategic and if it would add value,” he told The STAR after the company’s  annual stockholders’ meeting last week.

The taipan’s businesses under LTG are now mostly comprised of several joint ventures and partnerships.

These include PMFTC Inc, which is the business combination between US tobacco giant Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing Inc. and Fortune Tobacco Corp., a 99.6 percent-owned subsidiary of LTG.

Allianz-PNB Life Insurance Inc., meanwhile, is a partnership between global insurance leader Allianz SE and Philippine National Bank wherein Allianz acquired 51 percent of PNB Life.

Another company is ALI-Eton Development Corp., a 50-50 joint venture between Ayala Land  and LTG, which will develop a sprawling 35-hectare property along the C5 corridor that spans portions of Pasig City and Quezon City.

ABI Pascual Holdings Pte. Ltd. is a 50-50 joint venture between Asia Brewery and Calidad Pascual of Spain.