Latest news with #LanceGokongwei
Forbes
4 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Philippines' Lance Gokongwei Mulls Exit From Legacy Petrochemicals Business
Lance Gokongwei. Robinsons Land This story is part of Forbes' coverage of Philippines' Richest 2025. See the full list here . A five-year losing streak at JG Summit Holdings' petrochemicals unit, which racked up losses of roughly 50 billion pesos ($88 million), prompted president and CEO Lance Gokongwei to make the tough call of shutting down operations for at least two years, starting January. The company said it will 'reassess strategic options' including an outright sale of the unit, which has been hit by a global supply glut and shrinking margins. JG Summit had diversified into petrochemicals in 1997 under Gokongwei's late father John Gokongwei Jr. Analysts, such as AP Securities' head of research Benjamin Garcia, view a potential sale of the legacy business positively, saying it will provide resources that could be better deployed in the conglomerate's other units. These include airline Cebu Pacific, which notched over a one-fifth jump in passenger traffic in the first half of this year; mall operator Robinsons Land, which is eyeing 14 new malls by 2030; and Universal Robina, a food and beverage company known for its Jack 'n Jill snacks. Meantime, shares of JG Summit are down almost 30% since fortunes were last measured, resulting in a drop in Gokongwei's net worth, which he shares with his siblings, to $1.8 billion.
Forbes
20-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Billionaire Lance Gokongwei's Robinsons Land Sells $536 Million Of Malls To REIT
Philippine billionaire Lance Gokongwei is hiving off about 30.7 billion pesos ($536 million) worth of shopping malls into his family's RL Commercial REIT that will help the group's diversified property arm Robinsons Land Corp. raise funds to bankroll its expansion plans. Robinsons Land—a developer of offices, residences and hotels controlled by the Gokongwei family's JG Summit—will sell nine shopping malls to RL Commercial in exchange for 3.85 billion shares, priced at 8 pesos each, according to a Philippine Stock Exchange filing. The latest infusion of 324,108 square meters (sqm) of mall space to RL Commercial will boost the REIT's portfolio by 39.2% to about 1.2 million sqm of shopping malls and office buildings. The deal comes a year after Robinsons Land sold 34 billion pesos of properties into the REIT. The transaction provides Robinsons Land, the second-largest developer of shopping malls in the country, with RL Commercial shares it can sell to help fund a five-year expansion plan that will entail investments of as much as 125 billion pesos ($2.2 billion). Robinsons Land and rivals Ayala Land and SM Prime are stepping up expansion plans amid a consumption boom in the country. Spearheaded by Robinsons Land CEO Mybelle Aragon GoBio, the first non-family to take the helm at the 45-year old developer, the company will boost its mall and office space by 50%, increase hotel room keys by 25% and double its logistics capacity. Robinsons Land aims to have 69 malls with 2.45 million sqm of gross leasable area by 2030, up from the existing 55 malls with a combined GLA of 1.7 million sqm. Its leasable office space will increase to 1.2 million sqm from 793,000 sqm in the same period. JG Summit also has interests in airlines, food and beverage, banking, petrochemicals and utilities. The business was founded by the late billionaire John Gokongwei in 1954 as a corn starch factory. After Gokongwei passed away in 2019, his six children—Lance, Robina, Lisa, Faith, Hope and Marcia—inherited his fortune. The siblings had a combined net worth of $3 billion, placing them at No. 7 on the list of the Philippines' 50 Richest when it was last published in August last year.
