Tycoon Andrew Tan’s Alliance Global Spending $1 Billion To Expand Property, Other Businesses

Alliance Global Group—controlled by billionaire Andrew Tan—is budgeting 60 billion pesos ($1.1 billion) in capital expenditures this year to expand its real estate, distillery and fast food chain operations amid signs the economy is recovering from the pandemic-induced slowdown in the past two years.

The company is stepping up expansion plans as Alliance Global’s businesses are seeing a robust recovery. The group’s net profit climbed 92% to 16.9 billion pesos in 2021 from a year ago, while revenue increased 19% to 152.8 billion pesos. The momentum continued into this year, with its net profit jumping more than 50% in the first quarter.

“We believe that with the sectors we are in, we will very much benefit from pent-up spending resulting from the further reopening of the economy,” Kevin L. Tan, CEO of Alliance Global and eldest son of group chairman and founder Andrew Tan, said in a statement on Thursday.

The bulk of Alliance Global’s capex will fund the real estate projects of its flagship company Megaworld, which is spending 50 billion pesos to bankroll new developments including four townships in Metro Manila, southern Luzon and Mindanao. Its hotel unit Travellers International will spend another 4 billion pesos to expand its leisure and entertainment offerings following an improvement in its casino’s gross gaming revenues after Covid-19 restrictions eased.

The remainder of the budget will be spent on liquor maker Emperador’s ongoing overseas expansion projects as well as increasing the footprint of Golden Arches—Alliance’s Global’s joint venture with McDonald’s Philippines franchisee tycoon George Yang—with plans to open 45 new McDonald’s outlets this year across the country.

Alliance Global is chaired by tycoon Andrew Tan, the son of a factory worker who made his fortune by developing high-end residential condominiums and commercial properties in Metro Manila in the 1990s. He is also the chairman of Emperador and Megaworld—which has built a portfolio of residential condominiums, offices, hotels, shopping malls and townships across the country in the past three decades. With a net worth of $2.6 billion, Tan ranked No. 8 when the list of the Philippines’ 50 Richest was last published in September.