The Lopezes are fighting over an empire whose operating assets sit far below them, while only a modest stream of dividends reaches the family apex. At first glance, the Lopez family quarrel looks like a fight over power: board seats, patriarchal authority, corporate succession, and the right to speak for one of the Philippines’ oldest business dynasties. Look closer, however, and it becomes something more modern and more uncomfortable: a fight over a pyramid whose jewels sit far below the family holding company, while the cash reaching the summit has become surprisingly thin. The latest spark is First Gen, the listed power producer under First Philippine Holdings and Lopez Holdings, where the family dispute has spilled over into allegations of a ₱50bn hydropower “premium” paid in connection with First Gen’s investment in Prime Infrastructure’s pumped-storage projects. The Lopez majority bloc has questioned the economics and disclosure of the deal; First Gen has responded that the final...
The company does not always own the label on the shelf. But it often supplies the materials, formulations, and factory know-how that help Philippine manufacturing move up the value chain. In the Philippines’ uneven march toward industrialization, the most interesting companies are not always the ones whose names appear on supermarket shelves. Some are hidden in the bill of materials. D&L Industries is one of them. It is not primarily a branded-food company, nor a consumer-products house in the conventional sense. It is better understood as a picks-and-shovels company for Philippine manufacturing : a supplier of fats, oils, oleochemicals, resins, plastic compounds, colorants, and additives, and a provider of contract manufacturing capacity that enables other companies to make more sophisticated goods. Its products sit quietly inside noodles, snacks, detergents, shampoos, plastic packaging, automotive components, paints, coatings, aerosols, and home-care products. The consumer may ne...