Forbes: Sy siblings still Philippine’s richest; Razon climbs to 2nd

MANILA, Philippines — The Sy siblings retained their top spot in this year’s Forbes list of the Philippines’ 50 richest, with ports and casino tycoon Enrique Razon Jr. dislodging real estate magnate Manuel Villar Jr. at second spot.

Despite their net worth being reduced reflecting the weaker peso, the Sy siblings, heirs to the SM group built by the late Henry Sy Sr., remained the country’s richest with a net worth of $13 billion.

The Sy Group’s flagship listed conglomerate SM Investments, which has interests in banking, property and retail, and is expanding to geothermal energy with five new projects across the country.

Taking over second spot for the first time is Razon, whose wealth soared by $3 billion to $11.1 billion. He is also the biggest dollar gainer for the second year in a row.

Forbes said that shares of Razon’s listed International Container Terminal Services, which has been in expansion mode, surged by nearly 80 percent in the past year amid the global trade rebound.

On Villar’s, end, while his net worth expanded by $1.2 billion to $10.9 billion, he slipped to third place after being overtaken by Razon.

Villar’s Vista Land & Lifescapes and his mass-housing and memorial park flagship Golden MV Holdings have both diversified into high-rise apartments to capitalize on the property market’s hot streak.

Taking fourth spot is tycoon Ramon Ang of San Miguel as his net worth grew by $400 million to $3.8 billion.

Under his leadership, Forbes said San Miguel has repositioned itself as a nation builder with an ambitious push into infrastructure, winning bids for airports, toll roads and power plants.

Isidro Consunji and siblings of diversified engineering conglomerate DMCI Holdings completed the top five with a fortune of $3.4 billion, up from last year’s $2.9 billion.

Coming in at sixth is Tony Tan Caktiong of Asian food conglomerate Jollibee Foods with a net worth of $2.9 billion

He was followed by taipan Lucio Tan with a net worth of $2.65 billion, Jaime Zobel de Ayala with $2.6 billion and the husband-and-wife tandem of Lucio and Susan Co of Puregold with $2.3 billion.

Rounding out the top 10 was the Aboitiz family whose net worth amounted to $2.2 billion.

Forbes cited education magnate Eusebio Tanco as a notable gainer in this year’s list, ranking at No. 22.

Tanco’s wealth grew by 35 percent to $815 million on rising shares of his online gaming company DigiPlus Interactive, which benefited from the government’s crackdown on illegal offshore gambling firms.

Meanwhile, Lance Gokongwei and his siblings slipped out of the top 10 in this year’s list.

Forbes said their fortune shrank by 37 percent to $1.9 billion, falling to No. 11 from No. 7.

Shares of their flagship JG Summit Holdings are down from a year ago, as its petrochemicals unit got impacted by weaker global prices and high operating costs, according to Forbes.

Overall, Forbes said the combined wealth of tycoons on the Philippines’ 50 Richest list this year was nearly flat at $80.8 billion compared to $80.4 billion last year.

“The Philippines’ economy expanded by 5.7 percent in the first quarter of 2024, slower than the 6.4 percent growth in the same period last year, as inflation and high borrowing costs weighed on domestic demand. While the country’s benchmark stock market index gained two percent since fortunes were last measured, the peso fell six percent,” Forbes said

“As a result, more than half of the country’s 50 richest are less wealthy this year,” it said.

To make the list, the minimum net worth was $170 million, down slightly from $180 million last year.