Lucio Tan

Lucio Tan ( born July 17, 1934 in Amoy, Fujian Province in China, Chinese陈永 栽) is a Filipino tycoon and businessman of Chinese descent. In 2008, he was with total assets of $ 1.5 billion the second richest Filipino. On the Forbes list of the richest people in the world he finds himself in 2009 at No. 522 with an estimated fortune of $ 1.4 billion. With the Lucio Tan Group of Companies, he controlled a conglomerate of approximately 300 companies.

Early years and career

Tan (Chinese陈永 栽) was on July 17, 1934 in Amoy (now Xiamen) was born in Fujian Province in China as the first of eight children. When he was four years old, the family moved to the Philippines during the Japanese occupation of China. There Lucio Tan graduated from the Far Eastern University. After successful completion as a chemist, he founded a small electronics store and a maize starch factory, but failed initially with both. In the same year he founded the failure Sky Industries Inc., a chemical manufacturing and trading company. With used equipment and refurbished old U.S. Truck Tan scored his first entrepreneurial success.

Finally, in the late 1950s, he worked in the tobacco industry. On behalf of his employer, he was entrusted in the Ilocos province with the purchase of tobacco. As a result of this experience he founded in 1965 in a small hut in Marikina the company Fortune Tobacco. After initial difficulties and tough competition in the highly competitive tobacco market, the company flourished in the early 1970s and was from the 1980s to the largest cigarette manufacturer in the Philippines. In 1996, Fortune Tobacco controlled even 75 % of the domestic market.

In the early 1970s Lucio Tan began to diversify its business base. He founded in 1970 the company Foremost Farms and thus rose to be the pig. In 1977 he purchased from the government, the previously bankrupt previous General Bank and Trust Co. (Genbank ) for only 500,000 pesos, which he built in the following years under the name Allied Bank to one of the 10 largest banks in the Philippines.

A year later, in 1978, Tan bought Riverside Steel Inc., the Philippine branch of the Japanese Kawasaki Steel Corporation, and thus laid the foundations also successful in the building and construction industry.

In 1982, Tan, the Asia Brewery. Here he benefited from a relaxation of state regulation, which had previously been prohibited any start-up companies in the brewery industry. Until then, the San Miguel Corporation, the only brewery in the country had been. In this context, allegations of graft were raised again because Lucio Tan was good friends with the former president and dictator Ferdinand Marcos since the early 60s. In previous years there were such allegations, as the company Fortune Tobacco received were state tax credits, which allowed Tans company to leave the competition behind.

In 1985, Lucio Tan bought the 500 room full 5-star Century Park Hotel in Manila.

In May 1988, the purchase of the Tanduay Distillery, one of the leading rum producers in the Philippines followed.

In 1992, the then national carrier Philippine Airlines was privatized to Tan secured a majority stake in the company, which later enabled him to take full control.

In 1995, Tan, another company in the aviation industry: Macro Asia Corporation. This holding company is working with other subsidiaries in various service areas of the aviation sector, such as catering, helicopter charter and maintenance, including the Lufthansa Technik Philippines, a joint venture of Lufthansa Technik AG and Marco Asia Corporation.

After privatization of the Philippine National Bank ( PNB ) Tan got in there as well, and the Lucio Tan Group of Companies whose largest private shareholder in 2000 finally. In August 2009 there was a merger with the likewise belonging to the Lucio Tan Empire Allied Bank.

Connections to the Marcos regime and President Estrada

Lucio Tan and Ferdinand Marcos met in the early 1960s for the first time, and until the early 70s, this developed into a close friendship, which also fortwährte when Marcos declared martial law in 1972 across the country. Repeatedly came on allegations that Lucio Tan's companies were given unfair advantages from the government. After Marcos's overthrow in 1986 even allegations have been raised that Marcos was involved even to 60 % of Lucio Tan Group of Companies. In addition, Marcos said to have received 60-100 million pesos a year, in return for favors and facilities against Tan's firms. In the course of freezing all the Marcos assets after its deposition also some companies of the Lucio Tan Group were initially confiscated by the state, including the Foremost Farms.

Also, Lucio Tan are close links with Joseph Estrada rumored that 1998 to 2001 was president of the Philippines. Tan was one of the main donors in Estrada's election campaign. In non-transparent way, a state requirement to 26.5 billion pesos against Tan's Fortune Tobacco Company was abandoned due to tax evasion in the following years. Estrada himself was eventually discontinued in January 2001 by the president and approved on 7 September 2007 by a court guilty of corruption.

The charges against Lucio Tan, however, were eventually dropped after long-running litigation on 7 December 2007, as the allegations could not be clearly demonstrated.

Private life

Lucio Tan is married with his wife Carmen and father of six children.