MANILA — Taipan Andrew Gotianun Sr. passed away on the morning of Thursday, March 10, 2016, the Philippine Daily Inquirer has learned from sources close to the family. He was 88.
The Chinese-Filipino businessman founded Filinvest Development Corp., which owns and controls Filinvest Land Inc., one of the country’s largest real estate developers.
Forbes Magazine estimated his net worth at $910 million at the end of 2015, making him the 18th wealthiest man in the Philippines. His other businesses include East West Banking Corp., as well as interests in the sugar, hospitality and power generation industries.
The family business was originally based in Cebu. Gotianun moved to the Philippines from mainland China when he was 10, and like many of the country’s taipans, didn’t finish school as he had to take care of three generations of women when his father and brother passed away.
He married Mercedes, a Manileña of mixed French-Filipino-Chinese ancestry who bore four children: Andrew Jr., Jonathan (now chair of East West Bank), Josephine and Michael.
After World War 2, Gotianun acquired former navy minesweepers and used them for inter-island shipping. The family then relocated to Manila and embarked on the consumer finance business, financing second-hand cars. In the 1960s, the family ventured into the property business, beginning with a subdivision project in Cebu.
INQUIRER business reporter Doris Dumlao described Gotianun as being “among the few Chinoys who are gender neutral” when it came to succession planning. As such, his business empire is now run by his third child and only daughter Josephine “Jojie” Gotianun-Yap whom he fondly calls “my boss.”
He is the the second in his generation of tycoons to pass away after Emilio Yap in 2014. SFM