This year’s Asia’s richest families list published in Forbes magazine includes just two families from the Philippines: the Sy and Ayala clans.
The Sy family made a jump up the list this year, moving ninth place from last year’s 12th place finish. Their net worth nearly doubled from US$12 billion last year, to US$20.1 billion this year.
The family patriarch Henry Sy, 92, founder of the SM Investments Corporation, is the richest man in the Philippines.
He started SM as a small shoe store in Manila, before growing the company into one of the biggest mall developers in the country.
The Zobel de Ayala family, now led by brothers Jaime and Fernando, also made it onto this year’s top 50 list with a net worth of US$6 billion. The seven Ayala siblings control the Ayala Corporation, one of the Philippines’ oldest conglomerates.
Ayala Corp. is the holding company for Ayala Land, Bank of the Philippine Islands Globe Telecom, and Manila Water, among other companies.
Although their net worth grew from US$4.95 billion in 2016 to US$6.13 billion this year, they actually slid down six spots from 37th to 43rd, due to other Asian families who got even richer.
The Spanish-Cebuano Aboitiz family, which placed 39th last year with a net worth of US$4.95 billion, did not make it to the top 50 this year.
The Ambani family of India, owners of the Reliance Group conglomerate in India, topped the list with a net worth pegged at US$44.8 billion, built on oil and gas, telecom, and textile interests.
Coconuts sister city Hong Kong has a total of nine families on the top 50, while India had 17.
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