The heirs of the late Henry Sy, Sr., founder of the conglomerate SM Investments Corporation, are the only family listed in Bloomberg’s list of Asia’s 20 Richest Families of 2025.

Bloomberg said the family has so far amassed a wealth of $15.1 billion, ranked at 19th on the list, a far cry from the first shoe store Sy opened in downtown Manila in 1958.

Sy, who was born in China and immigrated to the Philippines when he was 12, had started by helping his father sell rice, sardines, and soap before he opened his tiny shoe shop in downtown Manila.

Since then, his business had grown into an empire with interests including retail, banking, and property. Today, the group runs thousands of retail stores and banking branches.

All of SM founder Sy’s six children, Teresita Sy-Coson, Elizabeth, Henry Jr., Hans, Herbert, and Harley are in their senior years and have taken advisory roles while professional managers have been appointed to run the conglomerate’s day-to-day business.

Meanwhile, members of the third generation of the Sy family are now getting involved in the management of some of SMIC’s subsidiaries, gaining experience to eventually take the helm from the professional managers. 

In 2018, Hans Sy Jr. took over as president of SM Engineering Design and Development Corporation (SMEDD Corp.) while Jica Sy-Bell, daughter of Henry Sy, Jr., is the lead executive for design, innovation and strategy of SM Prime Holdings Inc. and SM Development Corporation (SMDC).

The Ambani family of India leads Bloomberg’s list of Asia’s Richest Families with a wealth of $90.5 billion held through their conglomerate Reliance Industries.

Dhirubhai Ambani, the father of Mukesh and Anil, started building Reliance Industries’ precursor in the late 1950s. After Dhirubhai died in 2002 without leaving a will, his widow brokered a settlement between her sons over control of the family fortune. 

Mukesh is now at the helm of the Mumbai-based conglomerate, which owns the world’s largest oil-refining complex and has been expanding into tech, retail, financial services and green energy, with his children in charge of those different business units.

Ambani is leading the charge on artificial intelligence, robotics and deep tech in India by investing in data centers, enterprise software and AI-enabled apps.
Second in the list its the Chearavanont family of Thailand with a wealth of P42.6 billion through its control of the Charoen Pokphand Group.

Chia Ek Chor fled his typhoon-ravaged village in southern China and started a new life in Thailand, selling vegetable seeds with his brother in 1921. A century later, Chia’s son, Dhanin Chearavanont, is senior chairman of Charoen Pokphand Group, a conglomerate with food, retail and telecom units.