by Ekrem Duman | Aug 26, 2026 | Banking & Finance, Philippines Company Stories
⚡ TL;DRBank of the Philippine Islands was founded in 1851, issued the country’s currency before a central bank existed, and is the oldest bank in Southeast Asia. Owned within the Ayala group, it has a corporate franchise and depositor trust accumulated...
by Ekrem Duman | Aug 26, 2026 | Banking & Finance, Philippines Company Stories
⚡ TL;DRBDO became the largest bank in the Philippines not by growing organically but by buying more than a dozen subscale institutions over two decades and integrating them onto one platform. Its distribution advantage came from the controlling family’s...
by Ekrem Duman | Aug 26, 2026 | Conglomerates & Family Groups, Philippines Company Stories
⚡ TL;DRMetro Pacific Investments assembled a portfolio of Philippine regulated infrastructure — electricity distribution, water, toll roads, hospitals and rail — using capital from a Hong Kong-listed parent. It ran into a persistent problem: public...
by Ekrem Duman | Aug 26, 2026 | Conglomerates & Family Groups, Philippines Company Stories
⚡ TL;DRThe Aboitiz group began in Cebu in trading and shipping, moved into regional electricity distribution over the twentieth century, and then bought heavily when the Philippine state privatized its generating assets in the 2000s. It is now one of the...
by Ekrem Duman | Aug 26, 2026 | Conglomerates & Family Groups, Philippines Company Stories
⚡ TL;DRJohn Gokongwei built JG Summit by doing the same thing in industry after industry: entering a comfortable market as an outsider, pricing below the incumbents, accepting thin margins and building volume until the position was unassailable. Snack foods,...
by Ekrem Duman | Aug 26, 2026 | Conglomerates & Family Groups, Philippines Company Stories
⚡ TL;DRHenry Sy opened a shoe store in 1958, built a department store chain, opened his first shopping mall in the middle of a national political and economic crisis, and turned the resulting group into the largest mall operator in the Philippines and the owner...
