Imminent
Whether or not he’ll stay in the family conglomerate or grow his own empire is a hot guessing game topic these days. But Henry Sy Jr., aka “Big Boy,” laughs off persistent rumors of a $1-billion buyout plan by his siblings.
“No such offer,” said the eldest son and namesake of the country’s richest man. Now, if the $1 billion refers to what sister company SM Prime Holdings will have to pay to acquire Big Boy’s pet project SM Development Corp., he says it’s too cheap.
“Just look at its market capitalization,” he said. (That was around P75 billion, or $1.8 billion, as of last Friday).
Looking dapper last Friday in the company of fellow billionaires Lawrence Ho and James Packer of Macau’s Melco group during the signing of the cooperation deal for Belle Grande entertainment complex, Big Boy has voiced support for the upcoming consolidation of SM property units. This union, he said, could happen in 2013.
“It will be a bigger and better company,” Big Boy said. “What we always do is bigger and better. It’s a perfect fit, one with recurring income and the other one with development income. In good times, you have developmental income, in bad times, rental income will be there so shareholders will be happy with this kind of company.”
So what happens to Big Boy once SMDC is folded into its bigger sister SM Prime? A source from SM said he “will have a role and position, and that’s part of the study on folding in. He’s working actively and united with the family on the planned consolidation.”
Meanwhile, we gather that key management changes may soon happen (if it hasn’t already) in SMDC ahead of what is becoming an inevitable union with SM Prime.—Doris C. Dumlao
