Ayala Corp looking to investment in different sectors
Posted on November 15th, 2009
With P26.4 billion in cash as of September, with half of which is “readily deployable for investment,” according to the firm’s managing director John Eric Francia, the holding company of Ayala group is looking for more business acquisitions in different sectors where it can make an “impact.”
Francia said, “Investing in new businesses is definitely on top of the list.”
“It has to be meaningful to Ayala and meaningful in terms of making an impact in that sector,” he added when asked for details of targeted sectors.
If and when the company decides to make any acquisition, Francia explained further, scale will be a primary consideration. He said the firm would like to be at least “No. 1 or No. 2” in its local business. Just like LiveIt Investments, he continued, the group would like to see its business process outsourcing acquisitions overseas to be among the top five companies in their sectors.
Another consideration is “buybacks,” similar to what the company did when it purchased P3.5 billion worth of shares from its partners in listed utility Manila Water Co. Inc., where Ayala Corp.’s interest rose from 31.7 percent to 43.3 percent.
Meanwhile, Ayala’s core business units continued to achieve robust earnings growth. The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) net income in the first nine months of 2010 grew by 38% to P7.3 billion with revenues up 16%.
This was said to be contributed by the increase in the bank’s average asset base coupled with a 13-basis point improvement in spreads. The bank’s average loans were also up by 8% driven by the middle-income market and consumer clients.
