Khaberni - Filipino billionaire Manuel Villar lost more than $18 billion from his fortune in just four days, following a record crash of 83% in his real estate company "Golden MV Holdings" shares since last Thursday, marking the worst loss streak in the company's history.
The story began when regulatory bodies lifted a six-month trading suspension on the company’s stock, initiating a sharp decline that swept Villar from the top of the Philippines' richest list, replaced by businessman Enrique Razon, according to the "Bloomberg" billionaires index, as Villar's fortune fell to about $4 billion.
Despite the collapse, the company reiterated in its disclosures to regulatory bodies that it is unaware of the reason for the decline, while it refrained from commenting on media inquiries. However, market experts have a different explanation, as analyst Toby Alan Aars from "Globalinks Securities" states that investors reassessed the stock after it resumed trading, concluding that its pre-suspension value was "significantly overestimated".
An accounting dispute triggered the crisis
The regulatory authority suspended trading on the stock last May due to a dispute between the company and the auditor over the valuation of land Villar purchased for $93 million, which the company later revalued at $23.3 billion, sparking widespread controversy in financial circles, especially since this jump came after a crazy rise in the stock price that raised the earnings multiplier to more than 1000 times.
Villar and his family own about 89% of the company’s shares, which manages projects for cemeteries, memorial parks, and low-cost housing, in addition to a massive project called "Villar City" to transform a group of cities south of Manila into a new urban center for the capital.
The crisis did not stop at "Golden MV" but extended to other companies within the Villar empire, as bonds of the real estate development company "Vista Land & Lifescapes" dropped to distressed levels, and its dollar-denominated bonds due in 2029 recorded the largest daily drop in over a month.
In its last annual report, "Golden MV" confirmed that it agreed to adopt a valuation method proposed by the external auditor, which lowered the land value closer to the original purchase price.
