Gung-ho generation takes over empires

Injecting fresh blood into the business community with the wave of successions among family conglomerates has resulted in the next generation of industrialists taking over the reins of the biggest Philippine corporations.

The transitions have been infectious, resulting in a shift to a modern business culture brought about by refreshing viewpoints from the younger breed of junior tycoons.

The late taipan John Gokongwei had explained that the heads of family-oriented business groups must be very conscious about succession to ensure the empire would thrive.

The more prominent change happened to the dynasty built by the late mall tycoon Henry Sy, once regarded as the richest Filipino, whose children, early on, were assigned to the different sections of the business empire.

The family business paved the way for succession through the public listing of the clan’s numerous businesses.

The eldest child, Teresita Sy-Coson, is the acknowledged leader of the new Sy generation. She earned her spurs by ably leading the rise of banking arm Banco De Oro, which is now the country’s biggest lender.

Second child Elizabeth, handles resort developments; eldest son Henry Jr. heads the fast-growing property projects; Hans is in charge of SM malls and China Bank; while Herbert heads Supervalue Inc. and Harley.

The children of taipans John Gokongwei and George Ty followed the same path and are effectively helping their empires grow.

Among the families of industrialists, the Zobel de Ayalas had an efficient succession plan in place. Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, or JAZA, took over from Don Jaime Zobel, which resulted in the expansion of the Ayala real estate and retail empire while Globe Telecom has now become a telco giant.

Younger brother Fernando backs up JAZA and had lately taken over when JAZA retired, but a sudden medical emergency forced Fernando to take a break from managing the Ayala conglomerate.

JAZA’s daughter, Mariana, was handed the management of the retail and commercial real estate holdings of the conglomerate. His eldest son, Jaime Alfonso, gained more experience in leading various Ayala subsidiaries, the latest of which is as head of AC Motors.

Jaime Urquijo, son of Bea Zobel, meanwhile, has the role of chief sustainability and risk officer at Ayala Corp.

Iñigo Zobel, son of the late Don Enrique Zobel, has always been known to keep a low profile. Yet he is the chairman of Top Frontier Investment Holdings and director of San Miguel Corporation.

(In the other day’s Daily Tribune edition, it was erroneously captioned in the photo of the article ‘Lineage makes dads mold generations’ that Iñigo was the son of Fernando Zobel de Ayala: Our apologies.)

Ramon See Ang, also known by his initials RSA, is the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Top Frontier Investment Holdings Inc., the largest shareholder of San Miguel Corporation (SMC).

He is also the president and CEO of SMC and the chairman of Cyber Bay Corporation and Eagle Cement Corp.

The powerful force behind the country’s biggest conglomerate is now passing the torch to his eldest son, John Paul Ang, who has the same down-to-earth demeanor.

Paul is the president and CEO of Eagle Cement Corp., the cement affiliate of the conglomerate. He built Eagle Cement from scratch as even in his younger years, he saw the cement business as a good opportunity to take after his father, who ran companies that rehabilitated cement plants and bought Fortune Cement and eventually listed it in the stock market.

Gokongwei’s JG Summit family is now led by scion Lance Gokongwei, with his uncle James Go. Lance is president while Go is chairman and CEO of the flagship company.

James Go is a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) while his son Bryan Go graduated from Harvard and now manages the conglomerate’s exposure in China’s booming financial center of Shanghai.

The heir apparent of Gokongwei, who studied at the University of Pennsylvania, runs his publicly listed enterprises.

Aboitiz Group’s great transformation

Aboitiz Group attributes its success for over a century to the seamless transition to the next generation, ensuring continuity as well as the evolution of its culture, policies, and how it does business.

The group is led by the fourth-generation Aboitiz Equity Ventures CEO Sabin Aboitiz, Aboitiz & Co. chairman Mikel Aboitiz, and Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV) chairman Endika Aboitiz.

Sabin Aboitiz has said the conglomerate has undertaken a great transformation which the group referred to as an evolution into a tech-glomerate was a necessity for the company due to the call of the times particularly during the recent pandemic.

“Now, transformation is like second nature since the whole world is transforming, it has always done so. It’s just that it is happening now at a faster pace and accelerating all the time,” he explained.

“The Aboitiz Group has to adapt to the changing world. It’s like we’re just being reminded that just like in the pandemic we’re transforming automatically such as people had to do certain things including going more online,” according to Aboitiz.

Another rising star in the clan is newly appointed Aboitiz Power Corp. president and CEO Danel Aboitiz, who starts his tenure on 1 July.

It marks the return of AboitizPower’s leadership to a member of the prominent Cebu-based clam. Danel is the son of AboitizPower chairman Enrique Aboitiz.

A more subtle transition happened in LT Group of Taipan Lucio Tan following the unexpected death of his son Lucio “Bong” Tan Jr., with the assumption of Lucio “Han” Tan III, or LT3, to run the Tan family’s real estate, airline, banking and manufacturing businesses. LT3 has chosen to keep a low profile.