This story appears in the August 2022 issue of Forbes Asia. Subscribe to Forbes Asia
This story is part of Forbes’ coverage of Philippines’ Richest 2022. See the full list here.
Ports billionaire Enrique Razon Jr. saw his net worth fall 3% to $5.6 billion on a weaker peso, despite the strong performance of his International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI). Its shares climbed as global trade recovered to pre-pandemic levels last year to hit a record $28.5 trillion, according to the UN’s trade body. He remains No. 3 on the Philippines’ 50 Richest list.
ICTSI’s net profit jumped 50% in the first half to $294.5 million, after quadrupling to an all-time high of $428.6 million in 2021, thanks to volume growth and higher shipping rates. The company is boosting cargo handling capacity at its terminals around the world, including a 15-billion-peso ($268 million) upgrade at its flagship port in Manila to handle mega ships that carry up to 18,000 twenty-foot equivalent units of containers. Last month, it bought a majority stake in a multipurpose Indonesian port terminal in Lamongan Regency, about 790km east of Jakarta, for $46.5 million, extending its global footprint in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
Bloomberry Resorts—operator of the Solaire casino resort in Manila—returned to the black in the first half following two years of losses induced by Covid-19 lockdowns, as Razon continued with plans to expand his gaming empire. The company is building a second casino resort in Quezon City that’s scheduled to open next year, and in May, paid 7.6 billion pesos for a 2.8-million-square-meter waterfront property in Cavite, south of the Philippine capital, for an integrated casino resort. That same month, Bloomberry agreed to buy a stake in Philippine tycoon Dennis Uy’s casino projects at Cebu island and the former Clark Air Base north of Manila.
Through his privately held Prime Infrastructure Capital, Razon is also stepping up investments in renewable energy, including the world’s biggest solar farm that’s estimated to cost about $3 billion to develop. To fund his green energy projects, Razon plans to list Prime Infra on the Philippine Stock Exchange this October, which is expected to raise as much as 28.2 billion pesos.