Daughters of PH tycoons in ‘Forbes 50 Power Businesswomen in Asia 2015’

MANILA, Philippines – Twenty-seven newcomers join Forbes annual “50 Power Businesswomen in Asia” list, appearing in the March 2015 edition of Forbes Asia.

The other 23 women have been on the list from previous years.

“To make the list, candidates have to be active in the upper echelons of the business world in Asia, wield significant power, and have access to robust financial resources,” Forbes wrote.

Three Filipinos made it to the list: Teresita Sy-Coson, vice-chairman of SM Investments (SMIC) and chairman of Banco De Oro Universal Bank; Helen Yuchengco Dee, chairman of Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation; and Zenaida Rustia-Tantoco, chairman and CEO of SSI Group/Rustan’s Commercial.

Daughters of tycoons

A newcomer to the list, Yuchengco Dee, 70, is the eldest of 8 children of Philippine businessman and former ambassador Alfonso Yuchengco. She runs the Yuchengco Group of Companies with interests in education, travel, construction, and financial services.  

Their flagship RCBC commercial bank has 6.5 million customers, 449 branches, and a market cap of $1.5 billion. The family’s Malayan non-life insurance firm has $565 million in assets in 2013. EEI construction, meawhile, had a 2013 revenue of $237 million.

Dee says she is more conservative than her risk-taking father, now 92. The family ranks 23^rd on the Forbes Asia rich list for the Philippines with $685 million.

Sy-Coson, 64 was also in Forbes 50 Power Businesswomen in Asia 2014. Under her lead, SMIC became the largest listed company on the Philippine Stock Exchange by market cap: group revenue from January to September 2014 was up 8% on year to $4.4 billion; and net profit rose 14% to $410 million.

BDO Unibank acquired Citibank’s thrift operations in Manila and Deutsche Bank’s trust business in the Philippines. It also bought the country’s largest rural bank. It also partnered with a bank in the United Arab Emirates to better serve overseas Filipino workers. It also opened a representative office in South Korea.

Sy-Coson, daughter of Henry Sy, who with $12.7 billion is no. 1 on the Forbes Asia rich list for the Philippines.

Rustia-Tantoco, 68, is poised to build further on what her parents founded 60-plus years ago, Forbes wrote, with more than 700 sales outlets in 69 malls nationwide, including the upscale Rustan’s department stores.

Revenue for SSI, which listed 30% of its shares in the Philippines in November for $168 million, rose 16% in the first 9 months of 2014 to $226 million, while net profit climbed 49% to $15.2 million.

SSI was established in 1987 to handle the Rustan’s Group’s specialty retail operations. Starting with Lacoste, then Salvatore Ferragamo, and Marks and Spencer, SSI quickened its growth in 1995 and added international brands such as Ralph Lauren, DKNY, Kenneth Cole, Burberry, Tod’s, Bottega Veneta, YSL, Hugo Boss, Banana Republic, Massimo Dutti, Tory Burch, and Old Navy.

SSI, which includes Stores Specialists Incorporated, retails 103 international brands including Aeropostale, Beauty Bar, Bershka, Gap, Gucci, Hermès, Kate Spade, Michael Kors, Nine West, Payless Shoe Source, Pottery Barn, Prada, Samsonite, Stradivarius, TWG, Zara, among others.

Tantoco will use SSI’s maiden offering proceeds to expand the company’s FamilyMart convenience store chain and midrange Wellworth department stores.

Rustia-Tantoco is an active fundraiser for music and humanitarian causes. “In her free time she gets together with family—all 3 of her children work at Rustan’s—and enjoys the beach,” Forbes Asia wrote.

The Tantoco family ranked 42^nd in the list of richest Philippine families for 2014.

Newcomers rule

Forbes 50 Power Businesswomen in Asia 2015 list is dominated by 27 newcomers to the list.

Along with Yuchengco-Dee, the other newcomers in the list include:

• Noni Purnomo, President Director of Indonesia’s Blue Bird Group Holding (and graces the cover of Forbes Asia’s March 2015 edition)
• Lee Boo-jin, President and CEO of South Korea’s Hotel Shilla
• Sonia Cheng, CEO of Hong Kong’s Rosewood Hotel Group and Executive Director of New World Development
• Wandee Khunchornyakong, Chairman and CEO of Thailand’s SPCG
• Katie Page, CEO of Australia’s Harvey Norman

Two top female executives of Alibaba, China’s biggest online commerce company also made the list.

Newcomer Maggie Wu is the online giant’s chief financial officer and driver behind its blockbuster initial public offering, while Lucy Peng, a returnee, is the co-founder of Alibaba and the energy behind its financial services affiliate, Ant Financial.

Referred to as China’s H.J. Heinz, Foshan Haitian Flavoring & Food is headed by Cheng Xue, is also a newcomer to the list. She joined the country’s biggest maker of soy sauce in 1997 and now owns 9% of it. She is a member of Forbes’s China Rich List with a net worth of more than $800 million.

Taiwan’s Enid Huey-Chin Tsai of Hiwin Technology and Japan’s Mayumi Kotani of Yushin Precision Equipment both debut on this year’s list and work for companies involved in making industrial robots.

Appearing on the list for the first time are women from Mongolia and Myanmar. Garamjav Tseden is the founder and chairman of Mongolia-based mining company Monpolymet. Myanmar’s Win Win Tint took the family grocery store and built a retail conglomerate that spans supermarkets, convenience stores, drugstores, bookstores, and more.

Sixteen countries are represented on the list.

Those from China and Hong Kong once again dominate with 14 women; India with 6; Thailand, 5; and Singapore, 4.

South Korea, Australia, the Philippines and Indonesia each have 3, while Japan and Vietnam each have two. Malaysia, Taiwan, Myanmar, Mongolia and New Zealand have one each. – Rappler.com

 

 

Yuchengo Dee photo from YGC website; Rustia-Tantoco photo from Gil Nartea / Malacañang Photo Bureau