Henry Sy is Philippines' richest man for 7th straight year

MANILA, Philippines - Mall magnate Henry Sy is the Philippines' richest man for the 7th consecutive year, according to Forbes magazine.

According to the latest Forbes Philippines rich list, the country's 50 wealthiest are worth a combined $74 billion, up 12 percent from $65.8 billion in 2013.

Forbes estimated Sy's net wealth at $12.7 billion, up $700 million from a year ago mainly due to the rise in share price of his companies SM Prime Holdings and Banco de Oro.

Lucio Tan also remained on the second spot with a net worth of $6.1 billion.

Enrique Razon, who owns ports operator ICTSI and Solaire operator Bloomberry, saw his net worth jump to $5.2 billion this year from $4.5 billion a year ago, which pushed him to third spot.

Ranked fourth is Megaworld Corp.'s founder Andrew Tan, with a net worth of $5.1 billion. He recently made headlines for becoming the first Filipino tycoon to do the ice bucket challenge.

JG Summit founder John Gokongwei Jr. ranked fifth with a net worth of $4.9 billion.

David Consunji, the founder of DMCI Holdings, added $1 billion to his net worth to $3.9 billion, which landed him on 6th place.

Seventh was Metrobank founder George Ty with a net worth of $3.7 billion, followed by the Aboitiz family with a net worth of $3.6 billion and Jaime Zobel de Ayala with a net wealth of $3.4 billion.

Rounding up the top 10 was Jollibee founder Tony Tan Caktiong with a net worth of $ 2 billion.

Construction, consumption

Forbes cited two factors that have been driving the Philippine economy - construction and consumption.

Former Senator Manny Villar jumped to 14th place with a net worth of $1.46 billion, up $410 million from a year ago. His wealth is derived from his real estate company (Vista Land) and shopping mall business (StarMalls).

Also given special mention was the tandem of Tan Caktiong and Mang Inasal founder Edgar "Injap" Sia, who formed DoubleDragon Properties. Sia ranked 31st on the richest list with a net wealth of $390 million.

The Forbes list included four newcomers on the list, namely Ricardo S. Po and family of canned food company, Century Pacific Group (No. 21, $770 million); Dean Lao, co-founder of D&L Industries (No. 26, $625 million); Raul and Jose Concepcion and family, who are behind Concepcion Industrial and RFM Corporation (No. 34, $320 million); and pawnshop titan P.J. Lhuillier of Cebuana Lhuillier, (No. 49, $180 million).

However, the new Forbes rich list did not include PLDT chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan and education baroness Lourdes Montinola.

Forbes said the minimum amount required to make this year's list was $170 million, up from $105 million last year.

The list was compiled using shareholding and financial information obtained from the families and individuals, stock exchanges, analysts and other sources. Net worths are based on stock prices and exchange rates as of close of markets on August 18.

The complete list is available at www.forbes.com/philippines as well as in the latest issue of Forbes Asia.