Tycoons’ children take over business

With the death of the four patriarchs of the biggest family-owned conglomerates in the country, it’s still business as usual for their companies as their children took over their roles. #tycoonschildren #HenrySy #GeorgeTy #JohnGokongweiJr

(From left) George Ty, John Gokongwei Jr. and Henry Sy.

The last 12 months saw the passing of four tycoons who are also in the Forbes list of richest Filipinos. George SK Ty, founder of Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company (Metrobank), the second largest bank in the Philippines, died on 23 November 2018 at the age of 83 due to pancreatic cancer.

Jon Ramon Aboitiz, chairman of listed firm Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV), was next to pass away on 30 November 2018 at the age of 70 also due to cancer.

On 19 January 2019, SM malls and Banco de Oro (BDO) founder and Forbes’ richest man in the Philippines, Henry Sy, died at the age of 94.

Last 9 November, John Gokongwei Jr., founder of Cebu Pacific, Universal Robina Corp. (URC) and Robinsons malls, died at the age of 93.

With the death of the four patriarchs of the biggest family-owned conglomerates in the country, it’s still business as usual for their companies as their children took over their roles.

Ty’s eldest son Arthur now chairs Metrobank and GT Capital Holdings while second eldest Alfred chairs Federal Land and Lexus Manila. With the Ty brothers at the helm, the family business is in good hands. In fact, the 2018 net income of Metrobank grew by a robust 21 percent to P22 billion compared to the previous year.

Meanwhile, filling in the shoes for Aboitiz is cousin Erramon who is now president and CEO of AEV which is into power, banking, financial services, food, infrastructure and land development. When the latter retires in January, his brother Sabin will succeeded him.

The six Sy siblings not only inherited the Forbes spot left vacant by their late father with their combined net worth of $17.2 billion making them the richest Filipino magnates. The eldest, Teresita Sy-Coson, now heads the SM Investments Corporation, the holding company of the SM Group of companies. She also chairs BDO, the largest bank in the Philippines.

Teresita’s younger brother, Hans, is president of SM Prime Holdings, one of the largest property developers in the country. The other siblings also occupy top positions in SM Investments and SM Prime.

Gokongwei’s six children have already taken over the family business long before his death. Eldest son, Lance, heads JG Summit Holdings as president and CEO. He is also the CEO of Cebu Pacific.

Lisa Gokongwei-Cheng is the president of Summit Media while Robina Gokongwei-Pe is CEO of Robinsons Retail. Marcia is vice president at URC while Faith Gokongwei-Lim is vice president of Robinsons Convenience Stores Inc.

So far, the Ty, Sy and Gokongwei children are doing good in growing and managing family businesses indicating a successful changing of the guards in the conglomerate landscape.