top 40 forbes

he Philippines’ growing economy and robust stock market, assisted by a strong peso and a declining dollar, have boosted the fortunes of its richest citizens.

For the first time in years Forbes magazine has included a Filipino among the world’s top billionaires. It also listed 39 others as Philippines’ richest, with a total worth of $17 billion.

The complete list of the Philippines’ 40 richest:

1. Jaime Zobel de Ayala and family ($2 billion)

2. Henry Sy and family ($1.7 billion)

3. Lucio Tan and family ($1.6 billion)

4. Andrew Tan ($1.1 billion)

5. Manuel Villar ($940 million)

6. George Ty ($870 million)

7. Andrew Gotianun ($860 million)

8. Enrique Razon Jr. ($820 million)

9. Tony Tan Caktiong and family ($790 million)

10. Oscar Lopez and family ($775 million)

11. Vivian Que Azcona and family ($670 million)

12. Inigo and Mercedes Zobel ($660 million)

13. Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. ($540 million)

14. Emilio Yap and family ($445 million)

15. John Gokongwei Jr. and family ($430 million)

16. Enrique Aboitiz and family ($375 million)

17. Alfonso Yuchengco and family ($365 million)

18. Beatrice Campos ($220 million)

19. David Consunji and family ($210 million)

20. Luis Virata ($200 million)

21. Gilberto Duavit Jr. and family ($191 million)

22. Menardo Jimenez and family ($190 million)

23. Felipe Gozon and family ($165 million)

24. Mariano Tan and family ($140 million)

25. Ramon del Rosario Jr. ($137 million)

26. Ronaldo and Rosalinda Hortaleza ($110 million)

27. Manuel Zamora ($105 million)

28. Betty Ang ($100 million)

29. Tomas Alcantara and family ($90 million)

30. Frederick Dy ($70 million)

31. Wilfred Steven Uytengsu Sr. ($60 million)

32. Salvador Zamora ($55 million)

33. Oscar Hilado and family ($51 million)

34. Philip T. Ang ($50 million)

35. Magdaleno Albarracin Jr. ($49 million)

36. Jesus Tambunting ($47 million)

37. Antonio Roxas ($36 million)

38. Manuel Pangilinan ($35 million)

39. Marixi Rufino-Prieto and family ($33 million)

40. Lourdes Montinola ($30 million)

Viva lowers IPO price

Film and entertainment provider Viva Communications Inc. has lowered the minimum price for its upcoming initial public offering (IPO) of shares to P8.10 per share from the previous P9.72 per share.

The company retained its maximum price offer at P12.93 each share.

Viva chairman and chief executive officer Vic Del Rosario said the company "widened the price range to provide further flexibility in determining the offer price given current market conditions."

The company is offering to the public a total of 142.85 million shares. The offering will run from Feb. 20-26 following a domestic roadshow that will kick off on Feb. 8. Pricing for the shares will be known on Feb. 15 while the listing for the shares has been tentatively set on March 5.

Viva’s IPO was supposed to start last Jan. 14 but had to be postponed due to weak market conditions

Proceeds from the offering, which could reach up to P1.85 billion, will be used to improve the programming of the firm’s cable channels, produce films and concerts and acquire foreign movies and equipment.

Other proceeds from the offering will be used for the digitization and restoration of its film library.

The company expects its net income to more than double in 2007, driven by higher sales from licensing overseas.

Viva intends to produce six films in the first quarter this year, two of which shall be co-produced with Star Cinema Productions with a budget of about P34 million per film. For the other four films, the company has allotted around P21.5 million.

For the first half of 2008, Viva is setting aside P60 million for the production of 10 concerts and P20 million for training and development of its artists/talents.

Yehey! to list shares via introduction

Local Internet search engine Yehey! Corp. is getting ready to list its shares at the stock market by way of introduction.

Listing by introduction involves the direct listing and trading of a company’s stocks without going through an initial public offering (IPO). Among those that listed their shares by way of introduction include the Philippine Stock Exchange and Vista Land and Landscapes.

Yehey’s parent firm iVantage Corp. has received a certificate from the Bureau of Internal Revenue authorizing the transfer of 84.79 million shares of Yehey! to stockholders of record as of May 18, 2007.

This should also pave the way for the five percent property dividend declaration of iVantage totaling P89.42 million, payable in the form of common shares of Yehey! Under the offer, iVantage shareholders will receive five Yehey! shares for every 100 iVantage shares that they own.

The PSE allowed the introducing listing since the Yehey! shares were distributed through property dividend by a listed-issuer (iVintage) to shareholders.

After the dividend payout, iVantage will reduce its holdings to 63 percent of Yehey! while iVantage shareholders will hold 36 percent.

Yehey! develops online marketing campaigns and programs for various corporate accounts and operates the Philippines’ only integrated online payment gateway called Kaban.

Currently, Yehey! is the world’s number one Filipino Internet portal and search engine with a strong following among Filipino Internet users worldwide.

With Yehey!’s eventual listing, iVantage shareholders eligible for the dividend can potentially realize additional returns through any market price appreciation.

Yehey!, which is hitting an average of 30 million page views per month, has around 300,0000 registered members.

The company’s bread-and-butter remains online advertising, mostly coming from global-based accounts including Dell, Levi’s, Ford, Intel, Nokia, and Citibank, HSBC and Sun Life Financial.

Yehey! provides daily Philippine and Asian news, business and financial reports, sports, jobs and daily weather forecasts.

It offers 24-hour business feeds and real-time stock quotes for free.

Robinsons Land net income up 42% in 2007

Robinsons Land Corp. of the Gokongwei group said Wednesday its net income rose 42 percent to P2.44 billion in 2007 from P1.72 billion a year ago.

In a statement to the stock exchange, the company said gross revenues also rose 29 percent to P8.99 billion last year from P6.97 billion in 2006.

"All business units performed remarkably well. Our drive to build our brand and be responsive to market demands made our performance possible. The strategic initiatives and expansion programs we had pursued in recent years continue to bear fruit," said Frederick Go, Robinsons president and chief operating officer.

Its mall division accounted for 39 percent of gross revenues with P3.54 billion.

The company said five of its malls house call centers and outsourcing offices that are expected to grow significantly in the next few years. Robinsons is currently constructing malls in Bulacan, Dumagueta, Nueva Ecija and Tagaytay.

Robinsons' high-end residential division posted a 60-percent growth in revenues to P3.635 billion in 2007 from P2.27 billion in the previous year.

Its hotels division registered gross revenues of P1.11 billion, up 22 percent from P907.3 million in 2006.

Robinsons is the real estate arm of conglomerate JG Summit Holdings Inc., which also has interests in branded consumer products, telecommunications, air transportation and financial services.

Forbes lists RP’s 40 richest