The empire is well, long live the empire

It is apparent to see that all six children of the late tycoon Henry Sy Sr. have not only learned well from what enabled their father — a poor emigre from Xiamen, Fujian province, China — to build in his lifetime, but spurred by the traits he passed on to them — discipline, hard work, vision, tenacity — managed to expand and make formidable even more the business empire their father left them.

The eldest child, Teresita “Tessie” Sy Coson, says she and her siblings Elizabeth (“Betty”), Henry Sy, Jr., Hans, Herbert, and Harley didn’t have much choice in terms of a career path; they were “born into a business family; it is really a destiny (or as a third generation Sy puts it, “We were not forced (into the business), but we didn’t have a choice).”

Coson was the first of her siblings to immerse herself in work in ShoeMart, the first shoe store built by her father in Manila. She had a knack for sales and merchandising, and in 1972, he asked her to open his first department store in Manila.

She was 22 and had no formal training in running a department store, but she had confidence. “You don’t know how to be scared when you’re young,” says Coson. To dispel her feelings of inadequacy, she went to trade fairs, read up on business books and learned on the job.

Coson may have been given an advantage because she was the daughter of the business owner, but she knew that that only meant she had to work harder than anyone else to dispel thoughts that things were made easy for her because of her status. “You have to really prove yourself to earn respect,” she said.

From ShoeMart to BDO

She progressed at work, and so did the family business, with the first shopping mall, SM North EDSA, built in Quezon in 1985. Five years later, Coson was made president of SM Department Stores, now part of the SM Retail Group. From less than 10 stores when she started, that number grew to over 40, by the time she quit to concentrate on the family’s retail and savings bank, Banco de Oro in the mid-1990s.

From a savings and retail bank, BDO was transformed, with Coson at the helm, into a uni-bank, with investment banking along with corporate and retail services.

BDO, then already the fifth largest Philippine bank in 2004, acquired — initially - 24 percent of the third largest bank in the country, Equitable; BDO’s stake was increased to 35 percent in 2005, and in 2007, BDO merged with Equitable to form Banco de Oro Unibank, then the country’s second largest bank.

Under Coson, BDO Unibank by 2008, rose to number one, a ranking it continues to hold today — the largest Philippine bank in terms of total assets, loans, deposits and trust funds under management, with a distribution network comprised of over 1,500 branches and some 5,000 ATMs across the country.

Today, Coson, 74, is Chairperson of BDO Unibank and Vice Chairperson of her family’s holding company, SM Investment Corporation (SMIC). She is one of the most admired and well-respected businesswomen in the country not only for her brilliance and outstanding success in contributing to the remarkable growth of her family’s businesses but also because, through all the power and influence great wealth as hers and her family could wield, she remains humble as evinced, for instance, by a snapshot taken of her standing alone and unattended while waiting for her luggage to come along in a carousel at an airport terminal.

“Our parents taught us not to forget where we came from, we should never forget,” she told a group of young Filipino-Chinese entrepreneurs in a recent gathering.

‘Who will mind the store?’

Like Coson, her younger sister, Elizabeth says their father made her and her siblings aware from an early age that they have to be part of the family business. The children were asked to work, particularly during the holiday season which saw the entire family at work in the department stores.

“Who will mind the store,” my father would ask, and so, our remembrance of holidays, the busiest time in the retail industry, was of the entire family stationed at the Makati (department) store, working alongside our mom.

In terms of academics, Elizabeth says that while her father had many expectations, “in school, there was no need for us to be first or second honors; he would always advise us to just be good persons.”

Henry Sy Sr.’s second eldest child spent nine years with the Investor Relations group of SM Prime Holdings, today the country’s largest integrated property developer in terms of assets.

She then went on take the helm at SM Hotels and Conventions Corporation (SMHCC), which oversees the family’s hotel and conventions business. With a combined inventory of 1,980 rooms and over 38,000 sqms of leasable convention space, SMHCC’s properties are comprised of Taal Vista Hotel, Pico Sands Hotel, Conrad Manila, Lanson Place Mall of Asia, Radisson Blu Cebu, Park Inn by Radisson Bacolod, Park Inn by Radisson Clark, Park Inn by Radisson Davao, Park Inn by Radisson Iloilo and Park Inn by Radisson North Edsa.

She put up SMX Convention Center at the Mall of Asia Complex in 2007 which, with 21,000 sqm of leasable space, is currently the largest privately managed exhibition and convention center in the country.

There are seven other SMXCC-managed exhibition and convention venues in key cities around the country.

Elizabeth Sy was a recipient of the SKAL International Tourism Personality Award for Hotel Category in 2019.

An art enthusiast, she has commissioned former Cultural Center of the Philippines President, now SMHCC consultant Nes Jardin to curate art pieces by noted Filipino artists for exhibition at the Conrad Manila.

She holds other senior positions in the SM Group, including being a member of the Executive Committee and Trust Committee of the Board of Directors of BDO Private Bank, Inc.; the chairman of the Nazareth School of National University; and advisor to the board of SMIC. Likewise, she is the designated Honorary Consul General of Iceland in the Philippines, and an active member of the board of trustees of the World Wildlife Fund.

‘Big Boy’

The eldest of Henry Sy, Sr.'s male children is his namesake, Henry Sy, Jr., who is also known by his nickname, “Big Boy.” Henry Jr. graduated from De La Salle University — just like all of his three brothers — and, like all of his siblings, was quickly absorbed into the SM business holdings. One of his first major senior positions in the family’s holding company, SMIC (also referred to as the SM Group) was as director of SM Prime, the property arm of the Group.

Under his watch, SM Development Corporation (SMDC), the holding company, SMIC’s real estate developer, grew, in a span of 10 years, from being a relatively minor player in the Philippine real estate industry to what is currently known as one of the leading developers in the region.

In 2013, SMDC was absorbed by SM Prime in a merger that had Sy Jr. as brand strategist while his younger brother, Hans remained as president. This was a move toward a full-range property development group that would cover hotels, office, residential and shopping malls. “He (Henry, Jr.) is the thinker, and I’m the executioner. We work well together,” said Hans Sy. A year later, Henry Jr. would become chairman of SM Prime.

In 2016, Henry Jr. became active in the construction industry, venturing with the government for certain infra projects. He put up his own cement business under the brand name, “Big Boss Cement” during the Duterte administration’s “Build Build Build” infrastructure push.

He also became chief executive of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) in 2010 after he acquired a 30 percent stake in the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, the operator of the country’s transmission highway, for $350 million.

Seven years later, he resigned, to focus on his family’s real estate business.

Henry, Jr. has continued his father’s legacy for education through the Henry Sy Foundation. He and his brother Hans are signatories in an agreement for the creation of a Medical Sciences building in the University of the Philippines-Manila, a joint effort between the Henry Sy Foundation and the UP Medical Alumni Foundation, Inc. involving a donation of some P300 million.

Devout Christian

His being a devout Christian gave him strength and solace when tragedy struck his immediate family. In March 2021, the eldest of his two daughters, Jan Catherine died at the age of 29 from sepsis.

Saying the passing of his daughter, who had been his executive assistant, left him “broken,” Henry, Jr. disclosed that it had been Jan who always made sure he remained grounded in faith.

In his eulogy for Jan, he recalled, “Since she was a little girl, she was the one who kept asking me to come with her to church.”

“The proud man that I was, was focused on three things of this earth — money which was always my concern, relationships — perhaps my intense attachment to my family was a form of idolatry, and prestige — I took pride and satisfaction in (my) accomplishments,” he said.

Jan, Henry Jr. added, “loved God, and she loved everyone around her. She had so many plans to build places and spaces where those less fortunate could experience and enjoy things she being privileged enjoyed, growing up.

I cannot understand why the Lord took her at this point in her young life, but God’s message to me is clear — to trust Him with all my heart, not to lean on my own understanding, but in everything, and in all ways, to acknowledge Him.”

There are two particular things that distinguish Henry Sy Sr.’s fourth child, Hans Sy: his compassion for those who have less in life as manifested in his philanthropic works, for which he has been recognized and highly lauded, and his passionate advocacy for sustainability and the environment.

In 2019, Forbes named him one of the “Heroes of Philanthropy: Catalyst for Change,” earning a spot in the Forbes Asia list for his charitable work involving Child Haus, a hospice for young cancer patients which he wholly supported using his own, not the conglomerate’s, funds.

More recently, he was conferred a Lifetime Achievement Award by the 2024 Asia Pacific Tambuli Awards for his numerous contributions to charity.

In 2016, Hans Sy surprised not a few when he stepped down as SM Prime president (he continues to be Chairman, SM Prime Holdings Executive Committee) and currently, other than serving as SMIC adviser and chairman of both China Banking Corporation and the family-owned National University, he has practically retired from the daily corporate grind.

ARISE

His taking a step back from business life was a move he made to give him more time and freedom to pursue his advocacies. His sustainability initiatives through SM, e.g., transforming SM malls into greener spaces integrated with such sustainable practices as rooftop solar panels and water recycling facilities, among many others, is well-recognized, and has led to him being the first and only Filipino member on the ARISE International Board, a group under the UN for global leaders on disaster risk reduction management.

Hans Sy had long pushed for sustainability efforts within SM. In 2014, for instance, he made a milestone achievement by leading the largest installation of solar panels in the country, that is, 5,760 such panels laid atop SM City North Edsa’s multilevel car park. Also in Baguio, SM has planted over half a million trees and has launched the first ever water filtration system in a mall, turning collected rainwater into potable water for SM City Baguio tenants.

Earlier this month, he was honored by the Philippine Retailers Association and the Department of Trade and Industry with the Philippine Retailers Association Outstanding Filipino Retailers President Award for his visionary leadership in retail development. The PRA cited him for his company’s embrace of environmentally and socially conscious efforts, integrating business innovation with community development, setting SM Prime a company apart as a leader in shaping the future of retail.

His engineering background (he took up Mechanical Engineering at the De La Salle University) and sustainability-oriented frame of mind has influenced the adoption of environmentally-friendly and sustainable design features in SM malls.

Beyond philanthropy and his green advocacy, Hans Sy has an interest likewise in the visual arts. For instance, after he was introduced to his late father’s friend, Juvenal Sanso, he started acquiring pieces by the Spanish-born Filipino artist; today he has some 165 works of art by Sanso alone, in his collection.

Carving a path within the empire

Like their elder siblings, the two youngest children of retail tycoon Henry Sy, Sr., Herbert and Harley, have likewise carved a path within the vast SM business empire.

Herbert Sy has been a director of SM Prime since 1994; he is also adviser to the Board of SMIC and is currently the chairman of Supervalue Inc., the company which operates all SM Supermarkets, the cornerstone of SM Group’s retail empire.

He likewise is chairman of Super Shopping Market, Inc., and Sanford Marketing Corporation as well as a director at Alfamart Trading Phils., Inc., and China Banking Corporation.

Herbert Sy also sits in the board of several companies within the SM Group, has worked with SM companies engaged in food retail for over 35 years and is involved in the SM Group’s Supermarket Operations including acquisition, evaluation and potential site negotiation.

For his part, Harley Sy, the youngest among the siblings, is the executive director of SMIC and is, likewise, a director of China Bank and an adviser of BDO Private Bank. He is co-vice chairman of SM Retail whose retail chains include Ace Hardware and Toy Kingdom.

In August 2022, Mr. Sy increased his ownership stake in SMIC by 5.795 percent through a stock exchange with Allfirst Equity Holdings, Inc. That strategic acquisition not only bolstered his personal stake, it also demonstrated his commitment to the company’s continued growth. The acquired shares came with ownership of geothermal fields in Tiwi, Albay, and Makban, Laguna, further diversifying SMIC’s portfolio.

Through his progeny, the patriarch’s life and visions, live on, and how. Not too bad, for an émigré who came to this country many moons ago, with nary a cent in his pocket, and only his hard work, grit and his wits about him as he pushed on to carve a better life for himself and his children. And what a life it had been.