The Formica Kvadrat pavilion at SingaPlural uses upcycled formicat in a creative way to form a multi-use shelter.
Singapore is becoming a focal point and center for design, culture and the arts.
I have a long love affair with Singapore, mainly because it was my home for the entire decade of the 1990s. Life there was great because everything worked, it was safe to live in, you could get anywhere quickly because of a super-efficient transit system, and the place was rich with public parks and open green space. All of this is by design, so when offered the chance to visit again last month, I took the opportunity and brought my better half, Twink, who I actually first met in the Lion City.
The main reason for the trip was to attend the events of Singapore Design Week (SDW), including its flagship International Furniture Fair Singapore (IFFS) and SingaPlural. The annual event is organized by the Design Singapore Council and also counted nine key events, eight of which were partnerships with the National Heritage Board and the Urban Redevelopment Authority, aside from several industry partners.
Design is everywhere in this UNESCO-designated Creative City of Design, but the first thing we did upon arrival was to eat. We had lunch at Hawker Chan in Chinatown. The restaurant brags a Michelin star and offers yummy soya chicken rice and char siew comfort food at reasonable prices. From there, we took a quick tour of the nearby new Six Senses Duxton Hotel, which is an adaptively re-used boutique hotel designed by noted British designer Anouska Hempel.
We then checked in at the new Novotel Hotel at Stevens Road, a short distance from the main shopping high street that is Orchard Road. The hotel’s millennial-chill laidback interiors were complemented by great food and access to two infinity-edge pools overlooking the lush landscape of this quiet district.
This is the fifth edition of SDW. I’ve attended once before, but this year’s offerings have been expanded and the theme of design broadened to several districts in Singapore.
In the next few days I attended the Inaugural Brainstorm Design conference at the Marina Mandarin. The meet is a partnership of the organizers with Time Inc. Brands, part of the Meredith Corporation. The confab was led by the editorial teams of Fortune, Time and Wallpaper. Sixty global thought leaders in design, business and public policy talked on ways design and entrepreneurship were transforming businesses, communities, and everyone’s lives.
Among the several interesting talks were with noted furniture designer Patricia Urquiola, maverick Filipino real-estate wunderkind Robbie Antonio, Grab, Wallpaper’s New York editor Pei-Ru Keh, Joe Gebbia of Airbnb, and Mark Dytham co-founder of PechaKucha.
(Left)The fantastic Juan Luna exhibit at the National Gallery drew thousands. (Right)Hawker Chan is a one-star Michelinr estaurant for Singaporean cuisine.
We next attended the opening of the main design event SingaPlural. This was held at the National Design Center on Middle Road. The center is an adaptively re-used colonial building and provided a great setting for a slew of exhibits of Singaporean designers and industry partners like Ren Yee of UNstudio, Infuud Asia by Kki Sweets that is offering a new way for tourist to enjoy Singaporean cuisine, Arttd’inox, a lifestyle brand who are working with local designer Wai Tim of Trigger design for really quirky stainless-steel pieces.
Of course, the main anchor event was the International Furniture Fair Singapore (IFFS), a long-standing trade show of SDW. Minister for Trade and Industry S. Iswaran gave the opening speech. Ernie Koh and Mark Yong of the Singapore Furniture Industries Council and the IFFS also were in attendance. An announcement was made that the next edition of the IFFS would be held at the Marina Sands Expo and Convention Centers, which will make an attractive destination for next year’s visitors.
At IFFS there was an embarrassment of riches in the way of furniture from the world. We also met JP Lasco, a young Boholano designer who had previously worked with Kenneth Cobonpue and was now on his own. He was one of 12 finalists for the Furniture Design Award for his creative Bench Screen in 2017. He exhibited a few more equally handsome pieces at the IFFS.
President Donald Trump has temporarily put his sons in charge of his company, but the Trump Organization still does business abroad. That has prompted questions about whether that might influence Trump’s official decisions.
A look at some of his business partners and contacts in Asia, where he is winding down a five-nation trip:
In this March 2, 2017 photo, Filipino Jose E.B. Antonio, chats before the start of a forum at the Manila Polo Club in the financial district of Makati, Philippines. Trump’s partner in a Philippines venture, Jose E.B. Antonio, was named a “special envoy” to the U.S. by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Oct. 28, less than two weeks before the November 2016 U.S. election. Antonio is chairman of Century Properties Group Inc., which partnered with Trump for the branding of the posh Trump Tower in Manila’s Makati business district. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
PHILIPPINES
Trump’s partner in a Philippines venture, Jose E.B. Antonio, was named a “special envoy” to the U.S. by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Oct. 28, less than two weeks before the November 2016 U.S. election. Antonio is chairman of Century Properties Group Inc., which partnered with Trump for the branding of the posh Trump Tower in Manila’s Makati business district.
The $150 million, 57-story tower was quietly turned over to unit owners earlier this year. The muted opening contrasted with the project’s high-profile 2012 groundbreaking rites, when Trump’s sons Donald Jr. and Eric posed for cameras in Manila, smiling and holding shovels.
Antonio rose from modest beginnings but has been listed along with his son Robbie Antonio by Forbes magazine as the Philippines’ 28th-richest family, with a combined net worth of over $400 million in 2017. Paris Hilton, Versace and Armani are among Antonio’s other rich and famous business partners. The businessman has said he has known Trump for many years and his son Robbie is described on his company’s website as “a good friend of the Trump family.”
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CHINA
Trump has met plenty of Chinese entrepreneurs, but his biggest friends in China in financial terms are state-owned banks and companies. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the world’s No. 1 commercial lender by assets, is among the biggest tenants of Trump Tower in Manhattan. Its lease ends in 2019, which has prompted questions about how a sitting American president’s family company will negotiate new terms with a bank controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.
Trump’s partners in Trump World Golf Club Dubai in the Persian Gulf awarded a $32 million contract to China State Construction Engineering Corp. to build the project in a deal reported in September by McClatchy. That prompted questions about whether the Trump Organization was honoring its pledge not to do business with foreign governments.
In the private sector, Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba Group, the world’s biggest online commerce company by total sales, was among the stream of Chinese business leaders who visited Trump Tower in Manhattan to meet the president following his election.
The Kushner Cos., the family company of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, cut short a sales campaign in China after a Chinese businesswoman, Ding Ying, was linked to an effort to attract investors in exchange for U.S. visas that advertised ties to the “Trump Family.”
Anbang Insurance Group Ltd., one of China’s biggest insurers, discussed possibly investing in a Manhattan skyscraper owned by Kushner Cos. Those talks ended in March without a deal.
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JAPAN
Masayoshi Son, Japan’s richest man and the chief executive and founder of Softbank Group Corp., was quick to visit Trump after the 2016 election and to promise $50 billion for investments in U.S. startups that he said would create 50,000 jobs. After the meeting in Trump Tower, the then-president-elect praised Son as a “great man of industry.”
Son, 60, said he had visited Trump to “celebrate his new job,” adding, “Because he said he would do a lot of deregulation, I said, ‘This is great, the U.S. will become great again.'”
A Japanese of Korean ancestry who graduated from the University of California, Son has won both criticism and accolades as a daring investor who has gathered partners in diverse technology sectors from around the world, and has been likened by some to billionaire investor Warren Buffett.
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INDONESIA
Billionaire Hary Tanoesoedibjo founded his own political party and had ambitions to run for Indonesian president in 2019, but now says he’ll support current President Joko Widodo. His company is building two resorts in Indonesia – one in Bali and the other in West Java – that Trump’s business is involved with through management and licensing deals.
Usually known as Tanoe, the 52-year-old tycoon is the founder of the media and real estate conglomerate MNC. He has been dogged by a criminal investigation this year into accusations that he sent threatening text messages to a deputy attorney general who was investigating a tax case involving an MNC company.
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MALAYSIA
Malaysian property developer Tiah Joo Kim, whose father is one of the Southeast Asian country’s wealthiest businessmen, licensed the Trump brand for a hotel and condominium tower in Vancouver, Canada, before Trump’s political ascent. Trump’s sons Donald Jr. and Eric attended the opening in March for the gleaming, 69-story building, where a one-bedroom apartment at 699 square feet (65 square meters) starts at around $1 million.
In an interview with The Associated Press just before the hotel’s opening earlier this year, Joo Kim said he found Trump’s statements about Muslims, Mexicans and women “extremely stressful.” ”I did a lot of soul-searching because people were attacking me for it,” he said.
Joo Kim, 37, is the son of tycoon Tony Tiah Thee Kian, a staunch Christian who built his fortune in stockbroking in the 1990s before expanding into real estate. Groomed to inherit the family business, Joo Kim last year was appointed CEO of its property arm TA Global. He also runs the Canadian-based Holborn Group. Raised in Kuala Lumpur, he studied at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and earned a master’s degree in international business at Macquarie University in Sydney.
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Associated Press writers Elaine Kurtenbach in Tokyo, Teresa Cerojano in Manila, Philippines, Joe McDonald in Beijing, Stephen Wright in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, contributed to this report.
FILE – In this Jan. 9, 2017 photo, then President-elect Donald Trump stands with Alibaba Executive Chairman Jack Ma as they walk to speak with reporters after a meeting at Trump Tower in New York. Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba Group, the world’s biggest online commerce company by total sales, was among the stream of Chinese business leaders who visited Trump Tower in Manhattan to meet the president following his election. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)FILE – In this Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016, file photo, then President-elect Donald Trump, left, accompanied by Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, speaks to members of the media at Trump Tower in New York. Japan’s richest man Son was quick to visit Trump after the 2016 election and to promise $50 billion for investments in U.S. startups that he said would create 50,000 jobs. After the meeting in Trump Tower, then-President-elect Trump praised Son as a “great man of industry.” (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)FILE – In this Jan. 14, 2017, file photo, Media Nusantara Citra (MNC) Group President and CEO Hary Tanoesoedibjo gestures during an interview with The Associated Press in Jakarta, Indonesia. Billionaire Hary Tanoesoedibjo founded his own political party and had ambitions to run for Indonesian president in 2019, but now says he’ll support current President Joko Widodo. His company is building two resorts in Indonesia – one in Bali and the other in West Java – that Trump’s business is involved with through management and licensing deals. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim, File)FILE – In this June 19, 2013, file photo, Donald Trump gives a thumbs-up as he poses with Tiah Joo Kim, left, CEO and president of Holborn Group, upon arrival to announce the building of Trump International Hotel and Tower Vancouver in downtown Vancouver, Canada. Malaysian property developer Joo Kim Tiah, whose father is one of the Southeast Asian country’s wealthiest businessmen, licensed the Trump brand for a hotel and condominium tower in Vancouver, Canada. Trump’s sons Donald Jr. and Eric attended the opening in March for the gleaming, 69-story building, where a one-bedroom apartment, at 699 square feet, starts at around $1 million. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
We’ve narrowed down the city’s most respected names and selected the very best.
ABOITIZ The family currently engaged in banking, power, and real estate among many other ventures traces its history in the Philippines to a Spaniard of Basque origin, Paulino Aboitiz, who arrived in the 1870s. He married the daughter of a well-to-do merchant a few years later, and started the rise of the Aboitiz clan in the southern Philippines, first in Leyte and later in Cebu. Starting with abaca trade, the family diversified following the claim of Paulino’s son Ramon (1887-1974) that “Any business where we can make money, we will go into.” Today, the family conglomerate Aboitiz Equity Ventures is chaired by Jon Ramon Aboitiz while his second cousin Erramon is the president and CEO.
IMAGE Courtesy of Aboitiz Family Ramon Aboitiz
ANTONIO The son of a banker, Jose Antonio founded his Century Properties real estate firm in 1986, just six days before the EDSA revolution. “Perhaps nine out of 10 of the most successful and wealthiest families derived and continue to derive incomes from real estate,” he reasoned in one interview. Today Antonio and his family are among the richest in the country, worth an estimated $260 million according to Forbes magazine. With all of his sons—Jigger, Marco, Robbie, and Carlo—involved in the business, the empire of the Antonios is ever expanding. The group’s exclusive developments include the Trump Tower, Knightsbridge and Gramercy Residences, Century City Mall, as well as collaborations with Philippe Starck, Missoni Home, and Versace Home.
IMAGE Dix Perez for Town and Country Marco, Carlo, Jigger, and Robbie Antonio
ARANETA The Aranetas of the LBC group have an interesting ancestor in the form of Don Gregorio Soriano Araneta, the secretary general of Emilio Aguinaldo’s Malolos Republic who also became the first Filipino solicitor general and secretary of justice and finance. Don Antonio Araneta, one of Gregorio’s 14 children, bought LBC Aircargo from its American owners in 1950, but it was his son Carlos “Linggoy” Araneta who made the firm a household name with his idea for 24-hour delivery service (Renamed LBC Express in 1988). Today Linggoy’s children Juan Carlos, Santi, Dino, and Monica hold the reins in the family company.
IMAGE courtesy of the Araneta family Don Antonio Araneta with son Linggoy in Germany, 1958
ARANETA In 1975, Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier’s “Thrilla in Manila” put the country on the world’s sporting map. One of the stars of the show is still in place today, the majestic Araneta Coliseum, the crown jewel in industrialist J. Amado Araneta’s self-named Araneta Center in Cubao. This branch of Aranetas owes the start of its fortune to Juan Araneta, who founded the Ma-ao sugar refinery in Bago, City, Negros, over a century ago. The family patriarch today is Jorge Araneta, who keeps a tight watch over the Araneta Group with the help of his siblings Judy Araneta Roxas (mother of Mar Roxas) and Maria Lourdes “Baby” Araneta-Fores (mom to Chef Gaita Fores).
IMAGE Dix Perez Jorge Araneta
CAMPOS What began with a small corner store owned by Jose Yao Campos in 1945 is now the country’s largest drug-manufacturing company. And though the founder died in 2006, Unilab is still a family run business, now helmed by his daughter Joy Campos Hess and her son, Clinton Hess. Jose’s eldest son, Butch, runs another family founded company, Nutri-Asia, and serves as vice chairman of Del Monte Philippines, while also serving as chairman of Fort Bonifacio Development Corporation. Jeffrey D.Y. Campos oversees the family’s vast real estate holdings through Greenfields Development, whose projects include a multi-hectare property in Mandaluyong and the joint venture with another prominent family in Santa Rosa, Ayala Greenfield Estates.
CHAN After emigrating from Fujian Province, China, in the 1940s, Chan Lib and See Ying established the trading company Liwayway Marketing in post-war Manila. Who knew that it would lay the foundation for a multitude of successful business ventures including snack items (Oishi), lighting and bathroom fixtures (Chan C Bros), as well as a best-selling apparel brand (Bench)? The most prominent of the couple’s children are the media-shy Carlos Chan, and Nenita Chan Lim and Ben Chan, both of Suyen Corporation, the parent company of Bench and Dimensione, among other lifestyle brands. The third generation of Chans—including Carlos’s six children and Nenita’s two—are slowly filling in the big footsteps of their parents in their respective companies.
IMAGE Magic Liwanag
COJUANGCO No list about Philippine families is complete without mentioning the Cojuangcos. The descendants of a Chinese immigrant, Co Yu Hwan, members of this extended family have become influential in business, politics, and society, settling first in Bulacan and then Tarlac. From the second generation, Melecio Cojuangco’s children were Jose Cojuangco Sr. (the father of Corazon Aquino and Peping Cojuangco), Antonio (the father of PLDT’s Ramon), and Eduardo Cojuangco Sr. (Danding’s father). The fifth generation Cojuangcos include President Noynoy Aquino, Tonyboy Cojuangco, Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski, Congressman Mark Cojuangco, and Charlie Cojuangco.
CONCEPCION Behind the continuing success of this multi-generational business family are perhaps the most prominent set of twins in Philippine society, Ronnie and Joecon Concepcion. The 84-year-old brothers born just 10 minutes apart are the sons of industrialist Jose Concepcion Sr., the founder of Concepcion Industries and co-founder of RFM Flour Mills along with Salvador and Victoria Araneta, the inlaws of Joecon. Ronnie’s side of the family includes former &C cover subject Ton Concepcion as well as current Concepcion Industries president, Jojo Concepcion. John of Selecta and Joey of Go Negosyo fame are the sons of Joecon. The twins’ sister is Mely Concepcion Hechanova, whose daughter, Renna, is vice chair of Condura.
IMAGE courtesy of the Concepcion family The Concepcion couples, from left: Joe and Marivic Concepcion, Paeng and Mely Hechanova, Jose and Hermina Concepcion, Ronnie and Menchu Concepcion, Rene and Susan Concepcion
CONSUNJI Cornflakes in the morning, then paksiw na bangus or torta for lunch—simple fare for a not-so-simple man, David Consunji of DMCI. The construction titan is the ninth richest Filipino according to Forbes magazine, but his old habits and virtues—honesty and living simply among them—die hard. While the architects behind famous buildings are better known, it was Consunji’s company that erected them: the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Philippine International Convention Center, Westin Philippine Plaza, and the Ayala Triangle, just to name a few. Sid, the eldest son, handles the construction firm now, with siblings Jing, Victor, Jorge, Lucy, Cristina, and Dinky also involved.
DELGADO Three prominent branches of the Delgado family were at one time all part of, appropriately enough, the Delgado Brothers company. Founded by Antonio Delgado in 1946 with his brother Francisco (Don Paco) and Jose, Delbros was a pioneer in logistics, later on expanding into trading, investments, and port operations. After leaving the company, Don Paco further increased his wealth by going into shipping and real estate. Today Delbros is run by Antonio’s son Eduardo (married to Margarita Delgado of Teach for Philippines) and grandson Jose Paolo Delgado.
ELIZALDE Another family with Basque origins, the Elizalde name has been prominent for more than 150 years, first gaining notice through Don Joaquin Elizalde, a sugar baron in Panay and Negros, whose descendants would acquire Tanduay Rhum from the Ynchausti family in the 1920s. Though the Elizalde clan sold the liquor company to Lucio Tan in the 1980s, it still has significant land holdings and one descendant, Don Joaquin’s grandson Fred Elizalde Jr., still owns majority of Manila Broadcasting Company running it with his son, Juan. Fred’s wife, Lisa Macuja, heads the prestigious ballet company Ballet Manila. Other well-known Elizaldes include Francisco Elizalde (married to Pamen Roxas) father to Patxi, Santi, and Carlos.
GOKONGWEI The story of this family’s patriarch doesn’t quite follow the typical rags to riches arc. Riches to rags to riches would be more apt. Born to a well off Chinese family in Cebu, the family fortune was lost when John’s father died suddenly. He revealed how he got back on his feet with a speech at the 20th Ad Congress: “So, what can I do? I worked.” Now 90, Gokongwei has surrendered duties in his companies to his children. Only son Lance picks up most of the slack at Cebu Pacific and JG Summit, while eldest child Robina is the president of Robinsons Retail Holdings, which has Robinsons Department Store, Robinsons Supermarket, Handyman, and Toys R’ Us under its wing.
GOTIANUN Andrew Gotianun called it a day back in the 1980s, hoping to spend a life in easy retirement with his wife Mercedes. But not much later he was back in business, taking charge again of Filinvest Development Corporation, the company he founded in 1955, armed with new ideas on how to take it further. His second wind gave Filinvest enough momentum to push the Gotianuns up to 18th on the richest Filipinos list of Forbes magazine in 2015. He passed away in March 2016, with four of his children carrying the load in the company, Josephine (president and CEO), Jonathan (chairman), Andrew Jr. (director), and Michael (vice president). His wife Mercedes is chairman emeritus.
LAUREL The family used to be a fixture in politics, but as the clan expanded, so has its realm of influence in society. Today’s generation of prominent Laurels are descendants of the nine children of José P. Laurel (1891-1959), the third President of the Philippines. Among the notables in the brood were former Vice President Salvador “Doy” Laurel, former Senate President Pro Tempore Sotero Laurel II, former House Speaker José Laurel Jr., and Arsenio Laurel, whom sports buffs will remember for winning the Macau Grand Prix twice. In this generation, we have the educators Bobby and Peter Laurel of Lyceum University (Manila, Laguna, and Batangas), fashion designer Rajo Laurel, stage actors Cocoy and Franco Laurel, and television personalities Patty and Denise Laurel.
IMAGE courtesy of the Laurel family Jose P. Laurel with Rose Laurel-Avencena, Francis Cardinal Spellman, Pacencia Laurel, Nene Laurel, and Alice Yulo Laurel
LOPEZ Few families have gone through the ebbs and flows of fortune like the Lopezes of Iloilo. Guiding the family through its most difficult times was Don Eugenio Lopez (1901-1975), who resurrected the family fortunes (drawn mostly from sugar) after World War II, only to lose almost everything in the dark days of martial law. Though he didn’t live to see his companies (Meralco, ABS-CBN, Manila Chronicle) returned to the family, his sons Geny (“El Capitan”), Oscar, and Manolo ushered in a new era of prosperity after the 1986 EDSA revolution. The next generation is led by Piki Lopez (First Philippine Holdings) and Gaby Lopez (ABS-CBN).
IMAGE courtesy of the Lopez family
LORENZO You don’t get to have a university sports facility named after you for no reason. Luis “Moro” Lorenzo certainly earned that right, after being a hoops star for Ateneo in the late 1940s and later as a visionary businessman. In the early 1980s he purchased and turned around a failing banana exporting company; now Lapanday Holdings is one of the largest independent producers and exporters of pineapples and bananas in the country. He passed away in 1997. From his eight children, eldest daughter Rica L. Davila is now the firm’s CEO and chair, while her younger brother Tomas is the vice chair. Outside the company, Martin found success operating numerous restaurant chains, while youngest Isa is an esteemed gallerist and artist.
IMAGE courtesy of the Lorenzo family Luis Lorenzo
MADRIGAL From humble beginnings in Albay, Don Vicente Madrigal amassed an empire built on shipping, coal, cement, and real estate to become one of the country’s wealthiest men as well as a senator in the mid 20th-century. His wife Susana was his lucky charm, as it was she who had the foresight to buy large tracts of land in Mandaluyong, Muntinlupa, Canlubang, and Laguna. Upon his death, Don Vicente’s wealth was equally divided among his seven children, but it was Consuelo Madrigal (1921-2008) who achieved the greatest prominence in business and social circles, especially known for her philanthropy. Paz, another daughter, also became a Philippine senator in the 1960s. The Madrigal legacy lives on through the grandchildren of Don Vicente and Susana, which include brothers Vicente II and Gerardo Madrigal, Chu-Chu Madrigal, former senator Jamby Madrigal, and Ging Gonzales-Montinola.
MONTINOLA According to family lore, the first Montinola to reach Philippine shores was Juan Montinola, who arrived in 1781 from Malaga, Spain. By the mid-1800s, the family had already risen to prominence in Iloilo. Ruperto Montinola, the great-grandfather of former Bank of the Philippine Islands president Aurelio “Gigi” Montinola III, was even elected the province’s governor. It was Aurelio Sr., a lawyer, who established the family in Manila shortly after World War II. One of his sons, Aurelio Jr., married Lourdes Reyes, the only daughter of Nicanor Reyes, the founder of Far Eastern University. Since Gigi stepped down from BPI, he’s busied himself with being the FEU’s vice chair, sitting on the board alongside his mother, sister Gianna, and brothers Juan Miguel and Anton.
ONGPIN The family name is virtually synonymous with Binondo, Manila’s Chinatown. On its most important avenue stands a statue of the clan’s founding patriarch, Don Roman Ongpin. A dealer in art supplies, his store El 82 was patronized by the likes of Juan Luna and Felix Resurrecion Hidalgo—but his most important contribution to society was being a supporter of the Philippine revolution. Today, his descendants still make the headlines and society news—including former Town&Country cover subjects Lisa Ongpin Periquet and Michelle Ongpin. The two are the offspring of the brothers Jaime (Jimmy), the former finance minister under Cory Aquino, and Alphaland chairman Roberto (Bobby), respectively. Another scion of the clan, Deanna Ongpin-Recto is a champion of the arts as is Jaime’s widow, Maribel.
IMAGE courtesy of the Ongpin family
ORTIGAS The Ortigas clan’s vast landholdings comes from Francisco “Don Paco” Ortigas (1875-1935), a successful lawyer who in 1931 purchased the Hacienda de Mandaloyon from the Augustinians, in partnership with Vicente Madrigal and a few others. The 4,033-hectare property spans the cities of San Juan, Pasig, and Quezon City. If you’ve ever wondered who Julia Vargas is while driving in Ortigas Center, it is none other than Don Paco’s wife. The properties are managed today by the family’s holding firm Ortigas & Co. Limited Partnership Holdings. Among the key people in the clan are Rafael Ortigas Jr., Fernando Ortigas, Ignacio Ortigas, Francisco “Pacqui” Ortigas III, and “Ish” O. Montilla, the son of Chari Ortigas.
IMAGE courtesy of the Ortigas family Amalia, Julia, Carmen, Maria Asuncion, Rosario, Francisco and Eduardo Ortigas
PADILLA Nicanor Escobar Padilla (1851-1936) from Pangasinan started a clan noted for producing prominent doctors, lawyers, and legislators. His brood of 11 (nine from his second wife, Ysabel Bibby) included Justice Sabino Padilla, Senator Ambrosio Padilla, Congressman Benedicto Padilla, Dr. Nicanor Padilla, and Dr. Florencia P. Dualan. From the succeeding generations, we have Justice Teodoro Padilla (the father of renowned eye doctor Minguita Padilla Lopez and lawyer Sabino “Binoy” Padilla), PhilHealth President Alexander Padilla, Couples for Christ’s Francisco Padilla, NYC-based lawyer Monique Padilla Gallego, and international banker Maite Padilla Gallego.
RUFINO A big family of real estate moguls, bankers, philanthropists, and artists, the different branches can trace their roots from the children of Macario Rufino: Ernesto, Vicente, Ester, and Rafael (their initials are where the old EVER Theater in downtown Manila got its name). The siblings developed a chain of cinemas, including the legendary Rizal theater and QUAD in partnership with the Ayalas. They also co-founded two banks. Charlie, the son of Vicente Rufino (yes, the street in Makati is named after him) and brother of Marixi Prieto, is among the most visible of the current generation, being one of the top developers in Taguig and Makati. The artist Marivic, the daughter of Rafael, is also a regular on the social circuit.
IMAGE courtesy of the Rufino family Ditas, Charlie, Cory, Marixi, mom Meding, Pixie, and Ma. Paz Rufino
SY For the eighth year running, Henry Sy is the country’s richest man, estimated to be worth $12.6 billion by Forbes Magazine. Now 92, Sy has long since transferred power in his various companies to his six children. Tessie Coson is in charge of the family’s banking interests in BDO Unibank; Elizabeth takes care of SM Hotels & Conventions Corporation. The eldest son, Henry Jr., chairs SM Prime, while Hans moved to a director role recently. Harley is in charge of the retail units Supervalue and Super Shopping Market (SM Hypermart), while Harley, the youngest, oversees the department stores division and SM Investments.
IMAGE courtesy of the Sy family Henry Sy
TAN From living in a small one-room apartment to owning vast tracts of land here and in Spain (with more than 1,500 hectares of vineyards for his brandy business alone), Andrew Tan has come a long way in a relatively short time. He became a millionaire at 27 through his appliance business, but it was his distillery (makers of Emperador Brandy) and real estate firm (Megaworld) that elevated him to megarich status. His wife Katherine is also involved in the family businesses. The couple has four children: Kevin, Kendrick, Kester, and Kara.
TAN Over the past two years, the consolidation of El Capitan’s companies has paid off—to the tune of $4 billion. Share prices of Lucio Tan’s companies got a boost thanks to the prospect of more efficient management (eldest son Michael is in charge), making him the fourth richest in the land. At 82, Tan is still very much hands-on, known for calling business meetings with his top brass that last deep into the night. Daughter Cherry is married to Alfred Ty, son of Metrobank’s George Ty.
Lucio Tan
TANCAKTIONG Tony Tan Caktiong’s family run company is truly bigger than ever with more Jollibee branches across the globe opening regularly. According to Forbes, it is the “fastest-growing Asian restaurant chain in the world” to date. Hey, even Anthony Bourdain gave the Aloha burger a thumbs up. Over the years, the family snapped up other fast-food restaurants including Chowking, Greenwich Pizza, and Red Ribbon, among others, all leading to a rise in Jollibee’s listed share price (and Tan’s net worth, now $3.8 billion). Part of the company since the beginning, Tan’s wife Grace leads the Jollibee Foundation, while eldest child and only son Carl Brian is the company’s business development director. His two daughters live in California.
TANTOCO If there’s a family who knows about luxury, it’s the Tantocos. Since 1951, when Bienvenido Tantoco and his wife Gliceria Rustia opened Rustan’s (a clever portmanteau of their names) the family has provided only the best in retail shopping for discerning Filipino consumers. Even their supermarkets have a luxury touch, often having gourmet items not found in other places. With the third generation of Tantocos there has been a growing expansion, not just in the acquisition of foreign luxury brands, but notably in restaurant and retail franchising, such as with Starbucks, Golden Spoon, and Family Mart.
IMAGE courtesy of the Tantoco family Menchu T. Lopez, Nedy Tantoco, Gliceria Tantoco, Merl Tantoco-Pineda, and Bienvenido Tantoco
TY When a young George S.K. Ty ran out of money in his early 20s (he was setting up a flourmill at the time), he asked for a loan from a bank. Furious about getting denied, he vowed to put up a bank of his own. At 29 he did just that, opening Metrobank in 1962. It is still the greatest source of the Ty family’s wealth, but they have diversified by going into real estate, insurance, and power generation. Ty might be ranked higher on the list of richest Filipinos, if not for his philanthropic nature—he once donated $100 million to build a Catholic church in China and funded the building of a technical school in Laguna. Sons Arthur and Alfred now run the bulk of the family enterprises.
YAP Known to be one of the more flamboyant of the Filipino-Chinese tycoons, Emilio Yap’s crown jewel is the Manila Hotel, which is over a century old. He passed away in 2014, but the family’s influence and power carry on, much of which still comes from the Manila Bulletin, the daily paper his family has been involved in since the 1960s. The family is also into banking (Philtrust Bank), pharmaceuticals (Euro Med Laboratories), shipping (President Lines) and education (Centro Escolar University). Emilio’s son Basilio Yap took over as chairman of both Manila Hotel and Manila Bulletin, while his grandson Emil Yap III continued to serve as vice chairman of the hotel and executive vice president of the newspaper and Enrique Yap Jr. takes the reins as the hotel’s executive vice president.
IMAGE Medal Elepaño
YUCHENGCO After inheriting his father’s insurance business, Alfonso Yuchengco steadily built an empire of his own, getting involved in everything from banking and education (RCBC, Mapua Institute of Technology) to car dealerships and construction (Honda, EEI Corporation). Among his children, daughter Helen Y. Dee is most likely to assume the mantle of leadership in the Yuchengco businesses. “A.Y.”—as the ambassador is known in business circles—is a food and wine aficionado, and a member of the exclusive Chaine des Rotisseurs. Pastry chef Sunshine Pengson (daughter of Bella Yuchengco), is A.Y.’s granddaughter.
IMAGE courtesy of the Yuchengco family Alfonso Yuchengco
ZOBEL Enrique Zobel attained success in real estate, construction, insurance, and agriculture. Of his two surviving children, Inigo is the more visible—an astute businessman, he’s also a fixture on the polo circuit. Enzo’s daughter Mercedes (Dedes) and second wife Dee prefer to keep a low profile, and both are engaged in philanthropy. Young Zobels coming into prominence include Inigo and Maricris’s son Jake and daughters Bianca and Natalia who recently opened lifestyle special store LANAI.
ZOBEL DE AYALA The family behind the Ayala Group of Companies (Ayala Land, BPI, Globe Telecom, Manila Water) traces its roots in the Philippines to Antonio de Ayala, who arrived in the early 1800s. The Zobel part of the name comes courtesy of Jacobo Zobel, who married Trinidad, Antonio’s daughter. The current patriarch, Jaime Zobel de Ayala, is happily retired, stepping down to devote more time to his photography hobby, most likely. His two sons, Jaime Augusto (“JAZA”) and Fernando, out of the seven children, work for the Ayala group. JAZA’s daughter Mariana, a Harvard graduate, works with Ayala Malls. His son Jaime Alfonso, also a Harvard grad, works at Globe.
IMAGE courtesy of the Zobel de Ayala family
This story originally appeared on Townandcountry.ph.
The night before Donald J. Trump becomes the 45th president of the United States, his recently opened Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., serves as the capital’s de facto inner sanctum. Barricades ring the place; if you don’t have a room or a reservation, good luck getting in.
As with any club worth its gilt, secret, concentric rings of exclusivity sit in plain sight, and one starts near the lobby bar, which is lined with bottles of Dom Pérignon and draped with a giant American flag. There, Hary Tanoesoedibjo, Trump’s billionaire Indonesian business partner, sits on a plush sofa, texting with Trump’s billionaire Dubai partner, Hussain Sajwani. Eventually they meet, and Tanoesoedibjo later posts an Instagram picture of himself, Sajwani and their wives mugging for the camera in the lobby of the Trump International Hotel.
Upstairs, Phil Ruffin, Trump’s billionaire partner in Las Vegas, has taken up residence in $18,000-a-night accommodations. The presidential suite, Ruffin says, was reserved for the president-elect. When he later complained about the price to Trump, the president demurred. Ruffin might need that money: His wife, Oleksandra, a former Miss Ukraine, has hit it off with Sajwani’s wife over their mutual love of expensive jewelry.
All told, at least 14 from this community of partners, from Turkey to India to the Philippines, attended the inauguration festivities.
“People often talk about partners as not necessarily friends, almost as if they’re mutually exclusive. ‘If you’re a partner, you’re not a friend, and if you’re a friend, you’re not a partner,’ ” says Eric Trump, the president’s son and co-chief of the Trump Organization, who now sits, with brother Don Jr., at the nexus of this global network. “I think that’s a bad way of thinking.”
All these friends, old and new, mixed with an awesome amount of power and money, do not produce a good recipe for eight hours’ sleep. Joo Kim Tiah, a Malaysian heir who would shortly unveil the world’s newest Trump tower, in Vancouver, eventually complains: “Do you guys know what time it is?” “I’m sorry, Mr. Tiah, we can’t turn the music down,” the hotel staffer responds. “This is once in a lifetime.” Indeed it is. Never has an American president taken office with such immense and complicated assets. Nor has one brought along a busload of rich partners who, by dint of previous deals and brand association, stand to reap profits in real time, as the president serves.
To better understand this global network, Forbes looked into each of these 36 partners, traveling to five countries to interview more than a dozen of them. In the process we made the following discoveries:
A potential business partner in Russia says he exchanged messages with the Trump family as recently as January.
Ruffin and the Trump Organization are considering a Trump casino in Las Vegas, perhaps bolstered by a federally backed high-speed rail connection to Los Angeles—a matter that Ruffin says he’s discussed with the president himself.
Trump’s partner in Indonesia, Hary Tanoesoedibjo, intends to use the Trump playbook to become president of the world’s fourth-most-populous country within ten years.
Trump’s attitude toward Muslims spurred, in part, a family feud among his partners in Turkey.
But perhaps the most interesting tidbit comes in the aggregate. Trump’s network extends to at least 19 countries. And these guys (yes, they’re all men) share a set of consistent traits, even as property developers go. This group is uniformly rich— seven are members of the Forbes Billionaires list; many more claim centimillionaire status. They reflect their partner—a mélange of bombastic marketing, over-the-top style and political connections.
And all of them are trying to figure out, to various degrees, how to cash in on the 45th president.
ERIC TRUMP MOTIONS to a small TV in the corner of his office in Trump Tower. “If I turn on the TV—let’s just see—I will bet you that [my father] will be on the screen in some way, shape or form.” He picks up the remote and clicks the power button. An anchor, fresh off a commercial break, stares straight into the camera: “A hearing in federal court today could allow hundreds of people who were deported under President Trump’s original—”
Eric smiles as he turns off the set. “I see him up there all day, every day. And I realize how big of a magnitude the decisions he makes and the things he has on his plate.”
His father’s presence in the business extends beyond his office television. In January, Trump stood in Trump Tower and announced that he was handing over control of his business to his sons as part of an effort to separate it from his presi- dency—though by putting his assets in a trust, he’s really just parking his holdings rather than divesting from them. And because he knows exactly what assets are in the trust, it’s anything but blind.
A month later, Eric seems to acknowledge this dilemma. One minute, he promises to never talk about the business with his father while he serves in the White House. Less than two minutes later, he says he will update his father on the company’s financials “probably quarterly.”
He also claims that the business is following through on its plan to hand over profits at its hotels from foreign dignitaries to the U.S. Treasury, even though the Trump business partner in Las Vegas says there is no such thing happening at their hotel. The pledge was intended to resolve concerns that the president would violate the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, a barely litigated section of America’s founding document that prohibits federal officials from receiving “any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.” A group of legal scholars and bipartisan ethics experts have begun the lengthy process of suing Trump. “He has all of the conflicts of interest that he had before,” says Richard Painter, the former chief ethics lawyer for George W. Bush, who is one of the lawyers facing off against him in the suit.
Some of Trump’s foreign partners are already finding themselves politically popular in their home countries. The Philippines’ strongman president, Rodrigo Duterte, appointed Trump partner Jose Antonio to serve as a special envoy to the United States just before Trump’s November victory. In India, billionaire Mangal Lodha is developing a 75-story Trump building while serving as a regional vice president of a major political party. Indonesia’s Tanoesoedibjo is building up a following as he mulls a presidential run.
“We have incredible relationships with the people we do projects with,” Eric Trump says. “You want somebody who trusts you. You want to be able to trust them.”
FOR ALL THE CLUMSINESS around how detached the president is from his business, from a management perspective, little has changed for the foreign partners. Although 85% of Donald Trump’s $3.5 billion fortune is wrapped up in stable buildings and golf courses in the United States, the most dynamic part of his business are its foreign licensing and management deals, which garner an estimated 3% to 5% of revenues without adding any risk. And Eric and Donald Jr. have for years served as deal scouts, logging hundreds of thousands of miles to find and close foreign partnerships. “He gives his sons a lot of autonomy to make the company’s decisions,” says Paulo Figueiredo Filho, who partnered with the Trumps in Brazil. “They were already conducting 90% of the business, even before the presidency.”
The Trump fils took an informal approach to vetting potential partners, relying, like their dad, as much on gut as numbers and analyses. “We’re a little bit of an insular company in that the vast majority of this stuff, we just do ourselves,” Eric says. “The first criterion that we look at if we’re going to do something with somebody else is ‘Are they a good person?’… That’s the way it has to work. If you’re looking at documents, if you’re looking at contracts, something is deeply wrong.”
The brand attracts a certain type of partner—flashy and ambitious. In the Philippines, Jose and Robbie Antonio also designed a beachclub with Paris Hilton. Dubai’s Hussain Sajwani has forged a $3.7 billion fortune selling real estate and tossing in extravagant add-ons, including BMWs and Lamborghinis. In Russia, Emin Agalarov works alongside his billionaire father, Aras, on real estate projects, while also moonlighting as a pop star (Trump once made a cameo in one of his music videos).
These are not the types of businessmen to ignore the fact that they are now tied to the most famous, controversial person in the world. Trump’s own organization has shown how to exploit the moment. During the week-end of the inauguration, guests swarmed the Trump hotel in Washington, D.C., paying upwards of $70,000 for a four-night stay. At Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, initiation fees reportedly jumped from $100,000 to $200,000 in January. The property is now worth an estimated $175 million, roughly 15% more than it was six months ago, as its historical significance increases seemingly by the week.
“From a business standpoint, is the presidency beneficial?” Eric Trump says. “You have to look at it both ways. If you’re talking about existing assets, they’re doing amazing. If you’re talking about as a whole, we’ve made sacrifices in order to al- low him—and he’s made sacrifices in order to allow him—to take the biggest office in the world.”
Ditto for his partners. The crew swanning around the inauguration was clearly thrilled, both with the proximity to power and with the opportunities that might afford. Agalarov says he would probably be working on a Trump Tower in Russia if the U.S. real estate mogul hadn’t launched his campaign. A different partner in the nation of Georgia says the Trump Organization asked to cancel its deal in order to comply with the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. (It is unclear why the Trump Organization might think its Georgia deal would have caused constitutional issues but not Trump’s other active foreign partnerships. A Trump Organization lawyer wouldn’t comment.) And just before he entered the White House, Trump said Hussain Sajwani offered him $2 billion for a new deal that the president turned down.
In Istanbul, though, the Dogan family tried to terminate their agreement with Trump. In Toronto, partners reportedly tried to remove the Trump name from one of their buildings.
Most partners continue to pledge their support—in private if not publicly. “Today the Trump brand is stronger all over the world,” Agalarov says. Any hard feelings about the canceled tower? “As soon as Mr. Trump got elected, we sent congratulations letters, to which they replied, and we exchanged texts,” Agalarov adds. “He does not forget his friends.”
Trump business partner Robbie Antonio Image: Jason Quibilan for Forbes
Robbie Antonio winds his way through full-scale models of the apartments that he and his father, Jose, are selling in a new residential tower in Manila. The units, which start at $160,000, are accented by cool greys and blues, and like many other Antonio projects, they’re a co-branded affair, featuring minimalistic, Armani-designed interiors.
The Armani partnership is evocative of the Antonio business model. In the 31 years since Jose founded the $230 million-in-annual-sales Century Properties, the Philippine economy has blossomed, and they have responded to the growing demand for increasingly plush apartments and offices with the first condominiums in the Philippines, an ultraluxe Manila tower called Gramercy Residences and a man-made beach with a beach club designed by Paris Hilton. They often work in partnership with Western brands like Armani, Missoni and Versace—and, full disclosure, with Forbes Media. The Antonios broke ground last year on a Forbes-branded Manila office building. A few blocks away from Forbes Tower is a Trump-branded, Antonio-built residential tower. The $150 million, 57-storey tower is nearly ready to open. “Trump has been a very positive experience,” says Robbie. And most of that experience has revolved around the friendship he has forged with the Trump children Ivanka, Eric and Donald Jr.
The Antonio-Trump relationship has morphed in the last couple of months. Back on October 13, Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte named Jose as the Philippines’ special envoy for business and trade to the US. An Antonio spokesman says Jose’s role is a “non-governmental, non-policymaking” position. He says, Jose’s “priority is the enhancement of the Philippines’ and US’s business relations.” And who could better strengthen business relations between the Philippines and a Trump America than a Trump business partner?
(This story appears in the 28 April, 2017 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
A previously little-known batch of billionaires And tycoons from Around the world suddenly find themselves in An unprecedented position: how do you cash in on A partnership with the president of the United States of America? from the Avaricious dealmakers to the Abandoned deals, meet the world’s 36 mini-trumps
Image: Clockwise From Top Left: Philip Cheung For Forbes; Jamel Toppin For Forbes; Jason Quibilan For Forbes; Vikas Khot; Tim Pannell For Forbes; Jamel Toppin For Forbes; Donald Trump: Jamel Toppin For Forbes
The night before Donald J Trump becomes the 45th president of the United States, his recently opened Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, serves as the capital’s de facto inner sanctum. Barricades ring the place; if you don’t have a room or a reservation, good luck getting in.
As with any club worth its gilt, secret, concentric rings of exclusivity sit in plain sight, and one starts near the lobby bar, which is lined with bottles of Dom Pérignon and draped with a giant American flag. There, Hary Tanoesoedibjo, Trump’s billionaire Indonesian business partner, sits on a plush sofa, texting with Trump’s billionaire Dubai partner, Hussain Sajwani. Eventually, they meet, and Tanoesoedibjo later posts an Instagram picture of himself, Sajwani and their wives mugging for the camera in the lobby of the Trump International Hotel.
Upstairs, Phil Ruffin, Trump’s billionaire partner in Las Vegas, has taken up residence in $18,000-a-night accommodations. The presidential suite, Ruffin says, was reserved for the president-elect. When he later complained about the price to Trump, the president demurred. Ruffin might need that money: His wife, Oleksandra, a former Miss Ukraine, has hit it off with Sajwani’s wife over their mutual love of expensive jewellery.
All told, at least 14 from this community of partners, from Turkey to India to the Philippines, attended the inauguration festivities. “People often talk about partners as not necessarily friends, almost as if they’re mutually exclusive. ‘If you’re a partner, you’re not a friend, and if you’re a friend, you’re not a partner,’ ” says Eric Trump, the president’s son and co-chief of the Trump Organization, who now sits, with brother Don Jr, at the nexus of this global network. “I think that’s a bad way of thinking.”
All these friends, old and new, mixed with an awesome amount of power and money, do not produce a good recipe for eight hours’ sleep. Joo Kim Tiah, a Malaysian heir who would shortly unveil the world’s newest Trump tower, in Vancouver, eventually complains: “Do you guys know what time it is?”
“I’m sorry, Mr Tiah, we can’t turn the music down,” the hotel staffer responds. “This is once in a lifetime.”
Indeed it is. Never has an American president taken office with such immense and complicated assets. Nor has one brought along a busload of rich partners who, by dint of previous deals and brand association, stand to reap profits in real time, as the president serves.
Image: Trump International Hotel & Tower Vancouver: Jeff Vinnick / Getty Images; Trump Towers Istanbul: Shutterstock.Com; Azerbaijan Trump International Hotel And Tower Baku: Shutterstock.Com; Uruguay Trump Punta Del Este: Miguel Rojo / AFP / Getty Images
To better understand this global network, Forbes looked into each of these 36 partners, travelling to five countries to interview more than a dozen of them. In the process, we made the following discoveries: • A potential business partner in Russia says he exchanged messages with the Trump family as recently as January. • Ruffin and the Trump Organization are considering a Trump casino in Las Vegas, perhaps bolstered by a federally backed high-speed rail connection to Los Angeles—a matter that Ruffin says he’s discussed with the president himself. • Trump’s partner in Indonesia, Hary Tanoesoedibjo, intends to use the Trump playbook to become president of the world’s fourth-most-populous country within 10 years—and has recently been accused of playing a role in an alleged plot to frame a top Indonesian government official for murder. • Trump’s attitude towards Muslims spurred, in part, a family feud among his partners in Turkey.
But perhaps the most interesting tidbit comes in the aggregate. Trump’s network extends to at least 19 countries. And these guys (yes, they’re all men) share a set of consistent traits, even as property developers go. This group is uniformly rich—seven are members of the Forbes billionaires list; many more claim centimillionaire status. They reflect their partner—a mélange of bombastic marketing, over-the-top style and political connections.And all of them are trying to figure out, to various degrees, how to cash in on the 45th president.
Eric Trump motions to a small TV in the corner of his office in Trump Tower. “If I turn on the TV—let’s just see—I will bet you that [my father] will be on the screen in some way, shape or form.” He picks up the remote and clicks the power button. An anchor, fresh off a commercial break, stares straight into the camera: “A hearing in federal court today could allow hundreds of people who were deported under President Trump’s original—”Eric smiles as he turns off the set. “I see him up there all day, every day. And I realise how big of a magnitude the decisions he makes and the things he has on his plate.”
His father’s presence in the business extends beyond his office television. In January, Trump stood in Trump Tower and announced that he was handing over control of his business to his sons as part of an effort to separate it from his presidency—though by putting his assets in a trust, he’s really just parking his holdings rather than divesting from them. And because he knows exactly what assets are in the trust, it’s anything but blind.
Trump’s network extends to at least 19 countries. and these guys (yes, they’re all men) share a set of traits
A month later, Eric seems to acknowledge this dilemma. One minute, he promises to never talk about the business with his father while he serves in the White House. Less than two minutes later, he says he will update his father on the company’s finan-cials “probably quarterly”.
He also claims that the business is following through on its plan to hand over profits at its hotels from foreign dignitaries to the US Treasury, even though the Trump business partner in Las Vegas says there is no such thing happening at their hotel. The pledge was intended to resolve concerns that the president would violate the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, a barely litigated section of America’s founding document that prohibits federal officials from receiving “any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state”. A group of legal scholars and bipartisan ethics experts have begun the lengthy process of suing Trump. “He has all of the conflicts of interest that he had before,” says Richard Painter, the former chief ethics lawyer for George W Bush, who is one of the lawyers facing off against him in the suit.
Some of Trump’s foreign partners are already finding themselves politically popular in their home countries. The Philippines’ strongman president, Rodrigo Duterte, appointed Trump partner Jose Antonio to serve as a special envoy to the US just before Trump’s November victory. In India, billionaire Mangal Lodha is developing a 75-storey Trump building while serving as a regional vice president of a major political party. Indonesia’s Tanoesoedibjo is building up a following as he mulls a presidential run.
“We have incredible relationships with the people we do projects with,” Eric Trump says. “You want somebody who trusts you. You want to be able to trust them.”
For all the clumsiness around how detached the president is from his business, from a management perspective, little has changed for the foreign partners. Although 85 percent of Donald Trump’s $3.5 billion fortune is wrapped up in stable buildings and golf courses in the US, the most dynamic part of his business are its foreign licensing and management deals, which garner an estimated 3-5 percent of revenues without adding any risk. And Eric and Donald Jr have for years served as deal scouts, logging hundreds of thousands of miles to find and close foreign partnerships. “He gives his sons a lot of autonomy to make the company’s decisions,” says Paulo Figueiredo Filho, who partnered with the Trumps in Brazil. “They were already conducting 90 percent of the business, even before the presidency.”
The Trump fils took an informal approach to vetting potential partners, relying, like their dad, as much on gut as numbers and analyses. “We’re a little bit of an insular company in that the vast majority of this stuff, we just do ourselves,” Eric says. “The first criterion that we look at if we’re going to do something with somebody else is ‘Are they a good person?’ . . . That’s the way it has to work. If you’re looking at documents, if you’re looking at contracts, something is deeply wrong.”
The brand attracts a certain type of partner—flashy and ambitious. In the Philippines, Jose and Robbie Antonio also designed a beachclub with Paris Hilton. Dubai’s Hussain Sajwani has forged a $3.7 billion fortune selling real estate and tossing in extravagant add-ons, including BMWs and Lamborghinis. In Russia, Emin Agalarov works alongside his billionaire father, Aras, on real estate projects, while also moonlighting as a pop star (Trump once made a cameo in one of his music videos).
These are not the types of businessmen to ignore the fact that they are now tied to the most famous, controversial person in the world. Trump’s own organisation himself has shown how to exploit the moment. During the weekend of the inauguration, guests swarmed the Trump hotel in Washington, DC, paying upwards of $70,000 for a four-night stay. At Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, initiation fees reportedly jumped from $100,000 to $200,000 in January. The property is now worth an estimated $175 million, roughly 15 percent more than it was six months ago, as its historical significance increases seemingly by the week.
“From a business standpoint, is the presidency beneficial?” Eric Trump says. “You have to look at it both ways. If you’re talking about existing assets, they’re doing amazing. If you’re talking about as a whole, we’ve made sacrifices in order to allow him—and he’s made sacrifices in order to allow him—to take the biggest office in the world.”
Ditto for his partners. The crew swanning around the inauguration was clearly thrilled, both with the proximity to power and with the opportunities that might afford. Agalarov says he would probably be working on a Trump Tower in Russia if the US real estate mogul hadn’t launched his campaign. A different partner in the nation of Georgia says the Trump Organization asked to cancel its deal in order to comply with the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.
(It is unclear why the Trump Organization might think its Georgia deal would have caused constitutional issues but not Trump’s other active foreign partnerships. A Trump Organization lawyer wouldn’t comment.) And just before he entered the White House, Trump said Hussain Sajwani offered him $2 billion for a new deal that the president turned down. In Istanbul, though, the Dogan family tried to terminate their agreement with Trump. In Toronto, partners reportedly tried to remove the Trump name from one of their buildings.
Most partners continue to pledge their support—in private if not publicly. “Today, the Trump brand is stronger all over the world,” Agalarov says. Any hard feelings about the cancelled tower? “As soon as he got elected, we sent congratulations letters, to which they replied, and we exchanged texts,” Agalarov adds. “He does not forget his friends.”
(This story appears in the 28 April, 2017 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
Top Collector Robbie Antonio Family Has Substantial Business Ties to Donald Trump. As the businessman prepares to step into the role of president, a lengthy New York Times story on November 26 takes aim at US president-elect Donald Trump’s financial ties and potential conflicts worldwide.
The story opens with a discussion of Jose E.B. Antonio, a Philippine developer who is the father of Robbie Antonio, one of artnet New’s top collectors to watch and a fixture on the art circuit; Robbie is seen frequently at high-profile events including art fairs and major auctions, including Sotheby’s recent Impressionist and modern art evening sale earlier this month.
According to the Times report, E.B. Antonio, who was “quietly named a special envoy to the United States by the Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte,” is building a $150 million tower in Manila’s financial district. His business partner is none other than Trump.
Announcement of Trump Tower Manila. Courtesy of Flickr Commons.
Following the election, E.B. Antonio flew to New York for a private meeting at Trump Tower with the Trump children, who have been involved with the Manila project from the beginning, along with Antonio’s children. Robbie confirmed to the Times that the Trumps and Antonios have other projects in the works, including Trump-branded resorts in the Philippines.
Robbie gave an interview to the Times in which he assured that there was no reason to doubt his father’s priorities. “It is for the good of the country now,” he said.
Beyond real estate, the 39-year-old entrepreneur has also developed a taste for expensive art. According to a page on Century Properties, he displays a number of blue-chip artworks in his $15 million Manila house that was designed by Rem Koolhaas’ firm OMA. In a 2013 profile in Vanity Fair, he commissioned “a series of portraits of himself by some of the world’s top contemporary artists,” such as “Julian Schnabel, Marilyn Minter, David Salle, Zhang Huan, members of the Bruce High Quality Foundation, and Takashi Murakami.”
Now, Robbie is developing designer-driven luxury homes for international clients. “I want the homes to be perceived as art pieces,” he told Forbes at Frieze Art Fair earlier this year. His first big sale was in March, via a Zaha Hadid-designed dining pavilion that sold for €1.3 million ($1.37 million).
The local property developer bucks regional bloodbath on Wednesday, November 9, with analysts believing the surge is because of Trump’s presidential victory
MANILA, Philippines – Century Properties Group Incorporated surged on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on Wednesday, November 9, after its business partner Donald Trump won the United States presidential election.
Shares in the property company, which holds the license to develop Trump Tower in Manila, settled at 72 centavos after gaining 12 centavos or 20% in Wednesday’s trading.
Century Properties bucked the regional bloodbath, with analysts believing the surge was because of Trump’s presidential victory.
“This is more of a psychological buy. As you know, they are the local partner of Trump Organization for Trump Tower Manila,” Harry Liu, chief of brokerage firm Summit Securities Incorporated, said in a phone interview.
COL Financial head of research April Lee Tan echoed Liu’s remarks. She said Trump’s victory could be the reason for the surge in Century Properties’ shares, amid a regional bloodbath.
Donald Trump Jr, the US president-elect’s son, visited the country in 2014 to help Century Properties break ground on the $150-million Trump TowerTM Manila, a 56-storey residential building in the sprawling business district of Makati City.
“I’ve always loved the Philippines. I think it’s just a special place, and Manila is one of Asia’s most spectacular cities. I know that this project will be second to none,” Donald Trump, chairman and president of the Trump Organization, was quoted in the official website of Trump Tower Philippines as saying.
Robbie Antonio, the head of the company’s business development, was introduced to Ivanka Trump, who had him meet her father, who then agreed to license his trade and family name to Century.
As of May 2016, Century Properties said masonry activities for Trump Tower were in “full swing up to the topmost floor (57th level) while plumbing and electrical roughing-in have reached the 40th floor.” It is set to be opened within the year.
CEO named as special envoy to the US
Other than the Trump victory, Liu said investors could be thinking that “Jose Antonio being the new special envoy to the US will be beneficial for the company.”
President Rodrigo Duterte last October 28 named Century Properties chairman and CEO Antonio as special envoy to the US.
“His mission is to enhance business ties and strengthen the economic affairs between the two countries,” Century Properties told the local bourse in a disclosure.
Antonio also served as the country’s special envoy for trade and economics to China in 2005.
The chief of Century Properties graduated cum laude from San Beda College in Manila in 1966 and from Harvard University’s Owner/President Management Program in 2003. – Rappler.com
The younger Robbie Antonio with his father, former Ambassador Jose E.B. Antonio, who also serves as chairman of Century Properties.
I have been referred to as “Asia’s youngest real estate tycoon” and by Forbes Asia as the “liaison to the stars” as we, at Century Properties, have brought global fashion houses, Hollywood A-listers, prominent architects, and the most iconic real estate brands to the Philippines for exclusive luxury projects that are now changing Manila’s skyline.
It was in 2011 when I headed Century Properties’ International Brand Collaborations, and started to conceptualize, negotiate, source, and launch projects in Manila with lifestyle game-changers. These included the Trump Organization for Trump Tower at Century City; Paris Hilton for the Paris Beach Club at Azure Urban Resort Residences; and The Milano Residences in partnership with Versace and in collaboration with MissoniHome. We’ve also had collaborations with Yoo, the interior design company founded by John Hitchcox; and Philippe Starck, one of the most celebrated and revered living designers today. Our latest project is Century Spire, a residential office tower whose architecture is by Daniel Libeskind, with amenity interiors designed by Armani/Casa.
Over the years, I have learned that passion for innovation and excellence should always go hand in hand with market understanding and experience. We have to learn from the lessons of history, and innovate towards the aspirations of our target market. We may have come up with products that one would normally consider tough to sell but we’ve also successfully tapped into the aspiration of many Filipinos—which is to have a higher quality of life.
Apart from catering to the needs of the market, it would also be crucial to offer the best value among the products in your own category. Adding value to a real estate property will attract the very discerning property market. The market will always respond positively to lifestyle innovations that make sense. For a few more dollars, one can own property that is above par not only in terms of money value but also quality of life.
I have also learned that timing is everything. You have to know when to introduce specific products to specific markets. Developers who have experienced more than four economic cycles like ours will develop the sense of launching the right product to the right market at the right time.
Donald Trump Jr., executive vice president for Trump Organization, with Robbie Antonio of Century Properties. NELSON MATAWARAN
