Villar is only Filipino in Bloomberg's list of world's richest 500
Business tycoon Manuel B. Villar has emerged as the only Filipino listed in Bloomberg Billionaire Index, a daily ranking of the world’s top 500 richest people, amid the economic turmoil caused by the pandemic.
(FACEBOOK / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
Based on the market value of his publicly-listed businesses, self-made billionaire Villar has been ranked by Bloomberg as the 382ndrichest in the world as of January 9, 2021.
Villar’s fortune, consisting of businesses in real estate, retail and utilities, is estimated to be worth US$6.76 billion—managing to grow US$92.7 million or 1.4 percent from the same day last year despite the stock market crash triggered by pandemic in 2020.
The Bloomberg list ranks Tesla’s Elon Musk as the world’s richest with a total net worth of US$209 billion, followed by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos with $186 billion, and Bill Gates with $134 billion.
Forbes Magazine also ranked Villar as the Philippines’ richest individual in September 2020.
Villar is the Founder and Chairman of Vista Land & Lifescapes, the largest home builder in the Philippines. The firm has built about 300,000 homes in more than 140 cities.
He also owns stakes in Golden Bria Holdings, a property and death care company, and Vistamalls, a shopping mall operator.
Villar owns 89 percent of Golden Bria though Fine Properties, Cambridge Group and directly. He also controls about 75 percent of Vista Land through Fine Properties, Althorp Holdings, Manuela Corporation and directly.
Vista Land owns most of the shares of its publicly traded subsidiary Vistamalls while Villar's holding company also owns 1n percent of the stock. The tycoon is also calculated to own 68 percent of AllHome Corporation.
Villar was born in Manila on December 13, 1949. His father worked for the government and his mother was a fishmonger.
He helped his mother sell fish at a local market as a young boy and credits his mother with teaching him what it takes to be an entrepreneur, according to the Senate of the Philippines website.
He obtained degrees in business administration and accountancy from the University of the Philippines before taking at job as an accountant at Sycip Gorres and Velayo. Soon after he left to start a seafood delivery business.
In 1975, Villar bought two trucks to begin transporting gravel in Las Pinas. This led to housing development. Villars strategy was to provide house and land packages to low income earners. By 1984 he had also founded Golden Haven, a chain of cemeteries.