According to the Philippine Business Daily, the global billionaire list released by Forbes on the 7th shows that Filipino-Chinese tycoon Sy Si-Chang and tobacco magnate Lucio Tan remain at the top of the Philippine rich list.
Sy Si-Chang and his family have a net worth of $8 billion, ranking 116th on the global billionaire list. The Sy family’s SM Investments Corporation owns the largest shopping malls and banks in the country. His daughter, Tessie Sy-Coson, was recently named one of Asia's most powerful businesswomen by Forbes.
77-year-old Lucio Tan ranks 314th on the global billionaire list with a net worth of $3.5 billion. The Tan family owns one-third of the shares in Philip Morris-Fortune Tobacco, which dominates the tobacco market in the Philippines. His other companies include Asia Brewery, the second-largest beer company in the country, Eton Properties, and Philippine Airlines.
Compared to last year, the wealth of Sy Si-Chang and Lucio Tan has increased. Sy's net worth was estimated at $5.8 billion in 2011, while Tan's valuation last year was $2.3 billion. Due to the performance of the local stock market in the Philippines surpassing that of most Asian markets, the market value of these billionaires' companies has also risen.
