Monde nissin chairman, Filipina president trapped abroad by the pandemic
The Indonesian chairman and vice chairman of Monde Nissin and the Filipina president have been marooned overseas due to the coronavirus pandemic on the eve of the P63-billion initial public offering of the rising multinational food company.
Their absence has been confirmed by the Monde Nissin headquarters in Makati, saying the Indonesian chief executive, Henry Soesanto, has taken over as “acting” chairman and “acting” president in their absence. “Due to existing travel restrictions/pandemic and the need by SGV to have the statement of management responsibility in the audited financial statements notarized, Henry served as acting chairman and president for purposes of signing (the) AFS” (audited financial statement), along with the IPO prospectus, Monde Nissin said.
“Otherwise, chairman Hartono Kweefanus and president Betty Ang would have been in the Philippines for this.”
Monde Nissin would not say how long the three top officials had been away and when they expect to be back in Manila.
“They usually are present for all board meetings and management reviews. However, since COVID-19 they have their involvement virtually as allowed under Philippine law due to the quarantine rules in both Singapore and the Philippines.”
It is understood that Betty Ang, 66, and her husband, Monde Nissin vice chairman Hoediono Kweefanus, are stuck in Singapore, where they maintain a home. The Monde Nissin chairman, the elder brother of the vice chairman, is based in Jakarta, overseeing the Indonesian operations.
The Manila-based CEO himself happens to be the brotherin-law of both the chairman and the vice chairman, being married to their sister, which explains the trust and wide latitude given him in their pandemic absence.
Despite positioning itself as a Philippine company, Monde Nissin is actually a joint venture and a marriage of two Chinese migrant families in the Philippines and in Indonesia, with the Indonesians as the industrial partners aside from being the majority shareholders.
Little is known about the Filipina president, Betty Ang, other than she is a 1976 BSC Business Management graduate of the Assumption College in Makati.
Her father was an executive of the now shuttered Universal Textile Mills, which in the 1970s textile boom was acknowledged as the largest textile factory in the region.
And despite marriage, Betty Ang still maintains her maiden name, signing it “Ang Betty” in official documents, following Chinese tradition.
According to regulatory records, Betty Ang and her parents formed the original company, Monde Denmark Nissin Biscuit Corp., in May 1979.
Betty was recorded as having the largest stake, 40 percent, ponying up an initial P280,000 of the P2.8 million authorized capitalization.
The following month, the Filipino incorporators invited a father-and-son team from Indonesia “in order to start its biscuit-making operation” in a planned factory in Santa Rosa, Laguna.
The father happened to be Hidayat Darmono, who built the now dominant Khong Guan biscuit empire in Indonesia. The son, on the other hand, is now the Monde Nissin chairman.
Betty Ang’s future husband became a shareholder a year later. Fast forward to 2021. The P280,000 initial subscription by Betty Ang, thanks to Monde Nissin growing by leaps and bounds, is now valued at an eye-popping P57 billion.
By comparison, that fortune is nearly half of the fabulous wealth of another Assumption alumna who made good, Teresita Sy-Coson. And it is a gift that keeps on giving. Betty’s late brother, former Allied Bank director James Ang Yok Teck, also left what is now a considerable fortune to his heirs, with his Monde Nissin shareholdings now worth over P6.6 billion.
And should the oversubscription provision kick in, the Indonesian CEO could reap a P9.45-billion cash windfall, aside from having P22 billion reserve for any rainy day.