Who comes after MVP? Pangilinan has successors in mind.

Manuel V. Pangilinan has spent decades assembling one of the country’s most diversified business groups. Now, the time to pass the reins on to the next generation is nearing. And he already has a list of names. “I just spoke to the HR people this morning. I said, we need to identify the first ones down. And name them,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino as reporters huddled around him. “And then the second down from my level, we will name them. I have a few names already, younger people.” His remarks came during a Meralco briefing on Wednesday, July 29, but the succession question extends far beyond the distribution giant because Pangilinan continues to hold top positions across the wider MVP group. Unlike the family empires of the Sys, Gokongweis, or Aboitizes, the MVP group is not housed under a single listed conglomerate. It’s a web of companies anchored on telecommunications giants PLDT and Smart, Meralco, and its power generation arm MGen, and Metro Pacific Investments Corporation’s interests in toll roads, Maynilad, hospitals, property, and agriculture. Pangilinan also chairs Philex Mining and PXP Energy. His media interests, meanwhile, run through MediaQuest Holdings, whose portfolio includes TV5, Cignal, The Philippine Star, BusinessWorld, Radyo5, One News, and One Sports. To put it in terms familiar to the basketball-loving Pangilinan, succession may be less about singing out one MVP and more about assembling an all-star team to lead his companies across vastly different boards, shareholders, and industries. The 80-year old tycoon already had some difficulty leaving his biggest posts in the past. He stepped down as PLDT president and chief executive officer in 2021, only to return in 2024 after his successor, Al Panlilio, resigned for health reasons. (READ: Wanted: Manny Pangilinan’s replacement) But the veteran businessman already has a profile in mind. “Probably in their 30s and early 40s. And they have to be IT-oriented, right?” he said. “They can’t be the run-of-the-mill legacy guys majored in HRM or home economics.” The jab at “legacy” managers and non-technology degree programs was blunt. The next crop of leaders will be young and digitally fluent. After all, the group is going big into cutting-edge technologies — everything from AI-ready data centers, large-scale renewable energy projects, and electric vehicle charging networks. (READ: [Finterest] Want to invest in data centers? Watch out for PLDT’s VITRO REIT) Meralco: Solar roofs, EV chargers In the meantime, MVP is still getting busy. He’s already charted out where Meralco’s growth in the next few years could come from. Pangilinan said the “intrusion of solar power” partly explained tepid electricity-volume growth in the first half. Rooftop systems allow homes and businesses to draw less electricity from the grid, slowly chipping away at the utility’s conventional market. But instead of resisting that shift, Pangilinan wants Meralco to lean into it. “It’s important that Meralco gets into solarization rooftops in a big way because you don’t need a franchise to solarize Cebu City, Davao City, wherever,” he said. Rooftop solar would also let Meralco expand outside the geographic boundaries of its distribution franchise. The commercial and industrial market would be the easier first target: there are fewer customers, but each consumes significantly more power. Households offer the larger mass market, although Pangilinan acknowledged that serving them would be operationally harder because of installations and varying local permit requirements. The other big bet is electric vehicles. “The company that is best able to build a network of charging stations is Meralco, right? Not only in its franchise area but elsewhere,” Pangilinan said, adding that a separate unit had been created for the business. Meralco plans to initially pursue companies with large fleets of cars, taxis, buses, or jeepneys. A single customer operating hundreds or thousands of vehicles could create far more electricity demand than scattered individual motorists, making fleet charging a quicker route to scale. A battle between two jumbo listings Pangilinan is also standing his ground on VITRO REIT, PLDT’s proposed data center real estate investment trust, even as it risks competing for investor funds with the much larger GCash offering. VITRO REIT is seeking to raise up to P24.2 billion from an initial portfolio of eight income-generating data centers. The listing would make it the country’s first digital infrastructure REIT. GCash parent Mynt, meanwhile, is preparing a share sale of as much as P92.3 billion, potentially the largest initial public offering in Philippine history. The timing has prompted questions over whether the local market has enough liquidity to absorb both within a tight window. Asked whether PLDT would consider giving way to the GCash listing, Pangilinan pointed to VITRO’s position in the queue. “Nauna kami. (We were first.) I understand we will be first,” he said. “So far as we’re concerned, we’re pushing the REIT.” In other matters, Pangilinan may soon have one fewer billionaires in his orbit. Batangas Representative Leandro Leviste founded SP New Energy Corporation and built a fortune by selling down his holdings to the Meralco group. Meralco now controls the listed solar company and its flagship MTerra Solar project, while Leviste remains a minority shareholder. It has not been an entirely trouble-free partnership. Leviste’s broader Solar Philippines group was slapped with around P24 billion in penalties after the Department of Energy canceled several contracts over projects it failed to deliver. The Ombudsman has also investigated allegations that a congressional franchise was effectively transferred to the Pangilinan group without congressional approval. Leviste has denied selling an active franchise, arguing that the company holding it had already ceased operations. Now, Leviste’s remaining financial link to the MVP group could be loosened. “He’s still there, but I understand he’s talking to several people about disposing his shares — some or all of his shares,” Pangilinan said, keeping his remarks brief. “We’re not party to that discussion.” – Rappler.com