Wise Holdings, Inc. (WHI) was originally known as Wise and Company, Inc. WHI was the parent company of several wholly-owned and majority-owned subsidiaries engaged in various industries including trading of industrial machinery and other products, real estate development and insurance services. WHI was later restructured when the Jakarta-based Dharmala Group acquired strategic interest in the company through a purchase of 70% equity from the original WCI stockholders. The company was renamed Dharmala Philippines, Inc. (DPI) and converted to a purely management and holding company. DPI was organized to take advantage of the goodwill and the regional presence of Dharmala in the ASEAN region. The Group operates 124 subsidiaries and affiliates, maintaining offices throughout the ASEAN region and in the key cities of London, Sydney and New York. It is widely known in the region for trading, construction and financial operations. The trading operations of DPI was spun off to a separate subsidiary also named Wise and Company, Inc. in an effort to preserve WHI's goodwill, having been known as a trading firm since its organization in the Philippines in 1926. The subsidiary is engaged in the trading of goods, wares, machinery, equipment and merchandise of all kinds. A Filipino group, VR Holdings Corporation, eventually gained the holding interest in DPI and acquired the company in December 1998. To build a new corporate identity and to maximize the institutional image of its subsidiary, Wise and Company, Inc., the corporate name was changed to Wise Holdings, Inc. Currently, the company operates through four strategic business groups, namely, the Trading group, the Financial Services Group, the Consumer Banking Group and the Investments Group.