Filipino billionaire Manuel Villar lost over $18 billion of his wealth in just 4 days after shares of his real estate company 'Golden MV Holdings' plummeted by a record 83% since last Thursday, marking the company's worst loss streak in history. The saga began when regulatory bodies lifted the trading suspension imposed on the company's shares for 6 months, triggering a sharp decline that ousted Villar from the top of the Philippines' rich list. Enrique Razon replaced him as the wealthiest individual, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with Villar's fortune dropping to approximately $4 billion. Despite the crash, the company repeatedly stated to regulators that it was unaware of the reasons for the decline and declined to comment on press inquiries. However, market experts offer a different explanation: analyst Toby Allan Ares of 'Globalinks Securities' suggests that investors reassessed the stock after trading resumed, concluding its pre-suspension value was 'grossly overvalued.' The regulatory body halted trading in May due to a dispute between the company and its auditor over the valuation of a plot of land purchased by Villar for $93 million, which the company later revalued at $23.3 billion. This sparked significant controversy in financial circles, especially as this surge came after a stock price rally that pushed the profit multiplier beyond 1,000 times. Villar and his family own about 89% of the company's shares, which manages projects for cemeteries, memorial parks, and low-cost housing, alongside a massive project named 'Villar City' aimed at transforming a group of cities south of Manila into a new urban center for the capital.
