RSA: Champion Diversifier and Strategic Consolidator

When the history of San Miguel Corporation shall finally be written, five names may dominate the milestones of this greatest Philippine company: Don Andres Soriano Sr., Andres Soriano III, Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. and Ramon S. Ang or RSA. And the most impactful of them all may turn out to be RSA. This man has transformed SMC from a purely beer company into how diversified and consolidated it is today. No one could claim credit for SMC's amazing growth over a few years only but RSA.

Multi-billionaire RSA is a terrific corporate strategist, a champion diversifier and indeed an exceptional consolidator. Making the SMC one of the strongest conglomerates in Asia with very high potentials for exponential growth, RSA has made the investors richer by leaps and bounds, while also taking care of the employees in the noble tradition of SMC's founding fathers for more than 133 years. If the Sorianos and the Cojuangcos were the roots, RSA is the wing that makes SMC fly to heights unknown in the past. The Sorianos and the Cojuangcos established the foundation, and RSA built a fantastic edifice of strength, power and wealth. RSA is a sui generis, one with no equal. A visionary with immense tremendous wisdom, he is also a very hands-on practical and pragmatic action man. If he could only be persuaded to run for president, he may be what our country really needs.

In June this year, RSA paid P10.9 billion to raise his ownership stake of Top Frontier Investment Holdings, which is the mother company of SMC. By doing that, RSA's acquisition of 45 million shares has elevated his holdings as the second biggest stockholder of Top Frontier, next to its Chairman, Inigo Zobel. But individually, RSA is much richer than Zobel. Mr. Ang with a personal worth of 3.4 Billion US dollars is now number 4 in the whole Philippines. Number one are the children of the late Henry Sy with a combined worth of 14.4 billion dollars. Manuel Villar is second with 9.7 billion and third is Enrique Razon with 8.1 Billion. But I have a strong feeling that, at the rate RSA is increasing his wealth, he can very well give Villar and Razon a run for their money. And, if the Sy Siblings desegregate their combined wealth, RSA can be number one in less than 10 years from now. His net worth jumped in 2023 by 39 percent according to the September issue of the Forbes Asia.

This year, SMC acquired Eagle Cement, one of the top players in the cement industry owned by RSA and located in Bulacan. SMC paid 97 billion pesos for 89 percent of Eagle Cement's total stake. To avoid any conflict of interests, RSA and his son John Paul, who both sit in the SMC board, inhibited themselves from the decision-making made by the SMC.

This acquisition benefitted SMC more than it did to Eagle Cement and the Ang family because by it, San Miguel Corporation has become the top player in the country's cement industry, with SMC's ownership also of Northern Cement Corporation in Sison, Pangasinan, which used to be owned by Eduardo Cojuangco Jr.'s family. SMC is constructing Asia's biggest airport in Bulacan and is heavily involved in the construction of highways and skyways. Control of cement is a strategic imperative of SMC.

Under the brilliant leadership of RSA, SMC is now a 1.5 trillion annual revenue-earning diversified conglomerate that owns a number of subsidiaries engaged in diversified portfolio of businesses like the San Miguel Food and Beverage Inc., San Miguel Yamamura Packaging Corporation and San Miguel Properties, Petron Corporation, SMC Global Power Holdings Corporation, SMC Infrastructures and Bank of Commerce. Some of its subsidiaries include Anchor Insurance and Brokerage, San Miguel Equity Securities Inc., San Miguel Equity Investments Inc., San Miguel Shipping and Lighterage Corporation (yes, SMC owns a fleet of vessels that transport the products of its many companies), San Miguel Stocks Transfer Service Corporation, San Miguel Repairs and Maintenance Inc. and San Miguel Farm Specialists Inc.

Because of RSA, the image of SMC has been transformed from purely beer to airports, highways and cement and power. SMC owns Sual Power Station (1,000 megawatts); Ilijan Power Plant, 1,200 MW; San Roque Dam (hydroelectric) 345 MW; Masinloc Power Plant, 1,019MW; Limay Power Plant (coal) 600MW; Malita (Davao) Power Plant, 300 MW; and Angat Hydroelectric Power Plant, 218 MW.

When I worked in SMC from 1986 to 2000, I never imagined that the company I loved would venture into power, cement, highways, tollways and airports. Well, as Shakespeare would quip in Mark Anthony: The fault, my dear Brutus is not in our stars but in ourselves, that we are underlings. We do not have the vision, the wisdom and the brilliance of RSA.