Villar Land Chairman Manuel Villar.
Provided by Vista Land
Property Tycoon Handbook Villar’s flagship Villar Land (formerly held for gold MV) became a high-profile spotlight this week when the SEC ordered revealed that the company’s external audit auditor Punongbayan & Araullo, an affiliate of Grant Thornton, had said the company did not accept the $130 million valuation of the company’s valuation and did not accept the $130 million responsibility. The order is related to a SEC investigation that was initiated after Villar Land delayed its annual audited financial statements for 2024.
In an unaudited financial report released in March, Villar Land’s net profit in 2024 (providing P3.34 billion deferred tax liability) and its net profit was nearly 1 trillion pesos), up 666% from the previous year’s report of P1.5 billion net profit. The company said the company’s massive revaluation revenue was 13,000 pesos, and after the assessment, the company evaluated the fair market value on 366 hectares of land purchased from Villar private company in October last year to determine the fair market value of pesos 10.2 billion.
Villar Land, along with Villar, its directors (including the billionaire’s three children Paolo, Mark and Camille) and key executives approved and issued a fine of 12 million pesos before the SEC approved the company’s unaudited financial statements and issued the company’s valuation, which has been verified by the company’s auditors.
“There is reason to find that they are responsible for serious or malicious [for] “It is obviously wrong, inaccurate or misleading to lead to the release of public disclosures,” the SEC said under its order.
Since the land acquisition was announced in October, Villar Land’s shares have fought against gravity in the stock market, making it the country’s most valuable company with a market cap of up to 15,000 pesos ($26 billion). That surpasses the valuation of Sy siblings’ SM investment and billionaire Ramon Ang’s San Miguel, both of which exudes a variety of businesses. The Philippine Stock Exchange suspended trading of the company’s shares in May because it failed to submit audited financial statements in 2024.
“Villar Land, its directors and senior management, welcomes the opportunity to explain the questions they raised and will respond to the SEC’s orders in due course,” the company said in a statement.
“The bill or plan is likely to mislead investments in the public, investing in transactions with companies or the overall market.”
The SEC said in March disclosures, including its directors and executives, Villar Land, “seeking publicly known, substantial fair value gains and increasing the company’s total assets due to the value of certain properties,” the SEC said. “However, the company later reported the same increase in earnings and assets as it is still termination of finalization, verification, auditing and/or testing its external auditors for the test for rationality. The bill or plan is likely to mislead the public, i.e. investors who trade with the company or market.”
Villar Land started its cemetery business and is known for its memorial parks, with 11% public sites, up from 10% of the minimum requirement. The reviewed 366 hectares of land parcel is part of a 3,500 hectares of mixed-use estate in Cavite Province south of Manila, and the organization aims to develop into a city of the future over the next three decades.
Filipino billionaire Manuel Villar is in the upscale Villar city residential and commercial enclave in the southern Metropolitan Metropolitan City.
Provided by Vista Land
“Obviously, the auditors disagree with the revaluation,” said John Gatmaytan, chairman of Luna Securities, Manila. “The auditor stood bravely on the ground.”
Although the company said it had “gunlessly proposed” to modify the valuation of the land to pesos 8.6 billion to enable Punongbayan & Araullo to speed up its audit, Villar Land insisted that pesos 1.3 trillion is the fair value of the property. “The company firmly believes that the fair value of the property in the City of Villar should be reflected in its financial statements,” the company said.
SEC Chairman Francis Lim said in a text message that regulators will take further action on the Villar land, which may be necessary for facts found in the ongoing investigation. “This is the integrity of our stock market.”
In addition to his real estate business, Villar is a former senator who ran for president in 2010 with an interest in energy, media, retail, restaurants and hydro companies. He is the third richest man in the Philippines, with a net worth of $11 billion on the list of 50 rich people published earlier this month.
