Ayala Land gears for bigger development projects this year
Posted on February 18th, 2010
Ayala Land Inc. is looking at developing 32 new projects this year that they have set a capital expenditure budget of P27.17 billion for the projects. These projects include new malls and residential and office towers.
According to company chief finance officer Jaime Ysmael, the funding for the projects would be a combination of internal cash and borrowing. “Based on initial plans and computations, we will need P10 billion as group, but that could change. We will only borrow when we need it,” he said. A ready P15.5 billion in cash could be tapped by the company from its own resources to fund its capital spending, said Ysmael.
A unit of the Philippines’ oldest conglomerate Ayala Corp., Ayala Land is one of the very few companies in the Philippines that have instituted environment and social aspects in their development projects. It is also the country’s largest property developer and one of the most trusted real estate brands.
Most of its projects were catered to high-end market, but starting last year, Ayala Land shifted its strategy to include the market for homes priced at less than P1 million.
Like most companies, Ayala Land also felt the effect of the global economic crisis in the last two years. Its residential sales faltered and its profits reduced. The company then put on hold some of its high-end projects for almost a year until low interest rates started bringing consumer confidence back.
The company resumed its projects, across all business segments, in October 2009. The Ayala Center in Makati City is also being allotted a P20-billion budget for its planned redevelopment, its third major redevelopment since the 60’s. It will be a 3 to 5 year development plan which involved constructing 2 office buildings, a mall, a hotel and a high-end residential condominium.
