Ramon Ang a great manager – Ongpin

Aya Lowe

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Roberto V Ongpin remains a passive investor in San Miguel Corp

PASSIVE INVESTOR. The country's 11th richest man, Roberto V. Ongpin (3rd from left), says he is not active in San Miguel Corp, the country's biggest business group. Photo during the 2013 Alphaland stockholders meeting by Rappler/Aya Lowe

MANILA, Philippines – Business tycoon Roberto Ongpin will hold on to his shares in diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. as a passive investor.

In an interview with local newspaper, The Philippine Star, Ongpin characterized his involvement in San Miguel as “passive” and voiced his faith in the strategies of the conglomerate.

“I am a great believer in SMC. I think (SMC president) Ramon Ang is one of the greatest managers,” he said. Ang is the chief operating officer of San Miguel (SMC).

Ang is known to have led San Miguel’s diversification from traditional food and beverage into heavy industries such as oil, energy, telecoms, mining, infrastructure and recently, airlines. It is currently the biggest business group in the country. 

As of end-2012, Ongpin-led Top Frontier was the single biggest shareholder in San Miguel with a 39.16% stake. 

The two companies have interlocking ownership. Top Frontier is owned by San Miguel itself as represented by Ang, and by an investor group that includes Ongpin, his nephew Eric Recto and businessmen Iñigo Zobel and Joselito Campos.

From Cojuangco to Ang

In June 2012, business and political heavyweight Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr. turned over control of San Miguel to his Ang, his trusted ally. Cojuangco sold his remaining stakes in the Philippines’ biggest business group to Ang and to Top Frontier.

The move comes two years after Cojuangco won a Supreme Court decision that declared him the rightful owner of his disputed stake in the company.

It formalizes Ang’s control over San Miguel, along with Ongpin.

In 2012, San Miguel’s net income surged 35% to P38.68 billion. In 2011, profits of San Miguel sank 13% to P17.5 billion in the absence of non-recurring gains.

Ongpin is busy

Ongpin said his time has been taken up by his high-end property arm Alphaland Corp., which has been busy building and launching a number of bespoke developments.

These includes the 3-tower Alphaland Makati Place that will have a sports club, a mall and condominium units; the P4-billlion members only Balesin Island Club in Quezon province, the P2-billion Alphaland Marina Club that will have 300 berths for boats of all sizes and the P10-billion 500-hectare Boracay Gateway which will be timed with SMC’s expansion of the Caticlan airport.

Alphaland Corp’s net income grew 5% in 2012 posting a P2 billion net incomce during the year. – Rappler.com

 

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!