What will MVP, Bobby Ongpin & Ramon Ang buy next?

Today the greatest single source of wealth is between your ears. — Brian Tracy

Congratulations to Germany’s Deutsche Bank, whose December 2009 assets were over 1.5 trillion euros, for recently holding its first-ever public sculpture competition in the Philippines, which was won by multi-awarded artist Juan Sajid Imao.

Of the country’s top 25 talented sculptors who competed, the unanimous choice of the board of judges — and also the “People’s Choice” category by Deutsche Bank Philippines’ 1,900 employees — was Imao’s 10-foot interactive public artwork titled “Diversi-team.” This will be unveiled at the bank’s building in The Fort on June 28 at 6 p.m., along with a sculpture exhibit by Juan Sajid Imao.

The governments that followed the late President Ferdinand Marcos and his First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos either largely neglected or failed in promoting the arts; some have even bastardized the National Artist Awards. Hopefully the new Noynoy Aquino administration can support a renaissance in Philippine arts and culture! Private-sector patrons like Deutsche Bank should be congratulated and encouraged to do more for the arts.

* * *

Whenever this writer attends dinners with various tycoons and young businesspeople, apart from the growing optimism about better Philippine and global economic prospects, the buzz includes the breathtaking mega-deals in the corporate world involving multi-billion pesos and the fates of the Philippines’ biggest corporations, especially in such lucrative industries as mining, real estate, energy, infrastructure and public utilities.

Among the names cited as top buyers or takeover titans include First Pacific Co., Limited and PLDT boss Manuel “Manny” V. Pangilinan, Marcos-era Trade and Industry Minister Roberto “Bobby” Ongpin, San Miguel Corp. CEO Ramon Ang and even the more elderly but still aggressive SM/BDO founder Henry Sy Sr.

To a lesser extent, former United Laboratories (Unilab) heir and now Condiments King Joselito “Butch” Dee Campos Jr. has also been quite active in acquiring big businesses in fascinating mega-deals outside of his family’s Unilab empire.

Still quiet but one of the smartest taipans in Asia is 84-year-old John Gokongwei Jr., who might also possibly spring a few surprises in the corporate world with his sharp eye for opportunities. Will his Robinsons Bank decide to grow faster by buying up other banks, too?

MVP is backed by Hong Kong-based conglomerate First Pacific, which is identified with Indonesia’s Salim or Liem Sioe Liong conglomerate. His latest purchase after Meralco, TV5 and other major corporate shareholdings is 8.6 percent in Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. First Pacific now also controls 46 percent of Philex Mining.

What will Manny Pangilinan, as big boss of First Pacific or PLDT — himself a billionaire in his own right — be buying next? His investments are eloquent manifestations of his confidence in the good future of the Philippine economy.

Some tycoons recently told this writer about the urban legend that claims that San Miguel CEO Ramon Ang used to be an auto mechanic or Binondo auto parts dealer who got to know political kingpin, Ambassador Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr., through a son, since all of them love cars. When Danding was exiled during the presidency of his first cousin and then political nemesis Cory Cojuangco Aquino, Ang reportedly managed the tycoon’s cement factory very well and loyally remitted incomes to the boss.

It was said that Danding trusted Ang’s business instincts more than those of his own two sons: Mark, who served as a good congressman and exponent of nuclear energy for the Philippines, and Charlie Cojuangco, who is more well-known as an art collector with his own Nova art gallery in Makati.

The buzz among other tycoons is how Ang has adroitly been working for a management buyout of San Miguel Corporation in partnership with Bobby Ongpin’s investor group, with him set to become the ultimate boss. Wow!

Another tycoon told this writer that Ang will soon develop the former PEA-AMARI prime realty site in the booming Manila Bay reclamation area with many condominium towers and other projects.

My questions are these: what will the hardworking, dynamic and resourceful Ramon Ang buy next, and who is backing him?

Another fascinating person this writer personally admires is 73-year-old Roberto “Bobby” Ongpin, the Ateneo and Harvard graduate who is now emerging as a major force in Philippine big business. His name is behind such mega-deals as Petron, Ashmore, Alphaland, and many more. Years ago, he served as vice chairman of the world’s most profitable newspaper, Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, and was a top adviser to Malaysian-Chinese billionaire Robert Kuok Hock-Nien of the Shangri-La Group. Ongpin also used to be the godfather of the former Binondo Central Bank, a group of ethnic Chinese foreign exchange dealers whom he directed to help save the Philippine economy from collapse after the 1983 Ninoy Aquino assassination. What will Ongpin buy next and who is backing him in his massive corporate deals?

The same goes for SM Group taipan Henry Sy Sr., the richest billionaire in the Philippines. What will his BDO buy next? Will it be another university like National University (NU), where he reportedly got my nephew, top dentist Dr. Joseph Dy Lim, to assist in its dentistry program? Lim, who’s also the dentist of taipan Lucio C. Tan, was also invited by Tan before to assist as associate dean of the dentistry college of his University of the East (UE). 

* * *

This writer wishes to point out a mistake in the claim of National Union of Banking Employees (NUBE) president Jose Umali, who said in another newspaper that possible new Labor Secretary Atty. Jose Anselmo “Joel” Cadiz of the Bicol region is the legal counsel of Asiatrust Bank, owned by the Aboitizes.

Asiatrust Bank is actually owned by investors led by the Garcia family and also its president, Dionisio “Diony” Ong, who is a summa cum laude graduate of De La Salle University, and fluent in English, Tagalog, Hokkien and Mandarin. Other top groups who made substantial investments in the bank include Asian Development Bank and the Social Security System (SSS).

If speculations are correct, Naga City and the Bicol region might have two new cabinet secretaries known for being idealistic. Atty. Cadiz is past president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) and former classmate of Ramon Magsaysay Awardee Mayor Jesse Robredo, who is the possible Secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).

* * *

The Philippine realty industry is becoming more vibrant and also highly competitive, with so many condominiums, townhouses and other projects being developed everywhere.

One interesting phenomenon is the increasing use of showbiz celebrities to endorse realty projects like Henry Sy Jr.’s SM Development Corp. using Kim Chiu and Marian Rivera, Sarah Geronimo for Senator Manny Villar’s Vista Land projects, Ruffa Gutierrez and Piolo Pascual for Ambassador Joey Antonio’s Century Properties condo projects, and others. Who will be the most effective celebrity endorser for realty projects?

Among the wisest realty investors in Philippine entertainment are Megastar Sharon Cuneta Pangilinan and former movie queen Amalia Fuentes. When I once remarked to Amalia at her New Manila, Quezon City, house that her nephew Aga Muhlach is becoming like her in showbiz and economic success, she replied that during her movie heyday, she would use her income from each movie to buy a house and lot in Dasmariñas Village, Makati City, but pointed out that the talent fee of her popular nephew for every movie cannot buy one house in that same neighborhood now.

I agree with Amalia Fuentes because I heard recently that outgoing President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s former Finance Undersecretary and Bobby Ongpin’s nephew Eric Ongpin Recto reportedly bought three old houses in that upscale neighborhood for P100 million each and just demolished them because he wanted the prime lots.

After serving GMA in 2005, Recto assisted his uncle Bobby in breathtaking mega-deals like the Ongpin/Ashmore Group buyout of Petron from Saudi Aramco over the planned bid of the Gokongwei Group. This young executive also assisted Ongpin in 2008 in buying the abandoned property from the Puyat family beside Dasmariñas Village for P1.3 billion, which became the Alphaland Southgate tower complete with shopping mall and offices for BPOs. Ongpin has many other giant deals — realty and otherwise. What are his next moves?

* * *

Thanks for your letters, all will be answered. Comments welcome at willsoonflourish@gmail.com or Facebook, or you can follow WilsonLeeFlores on Twitter.