Listed conglomerate Ayala Corp. said it would focus on optimizing existing businesses, adopting 鈥渁 highly disciplined approach鈥 to capital deployment, and exploring fundraising activities for future ventures.
鈥淲e will fully support continued expansion of our core value drivers Ayala Land, Inc., BPI (Bank of the Philippine Islands), Globe Telecom, Inc., and AC Energy [Corp.] and scale up our emerging businesses in healthcare, education and logistics, 鈥 Fernando Zobel de Ayala, incoming president and chief executive officer of Ayala Corp., said during the virtual stockholders鈥 meeting on Friday morning.
The Ayala group has allotted P196 billion in combined capital expenditures (capex) this year and expects to make 鈥渆conomic revival鈥 by mid-2023.
Majority of the company鈥檚 2021 capex will be funding Ayala Land鈥檚 residential launches and to support Globe Telecom鈥檚 infrastructure rollout.
鈥淲e are cautiously optimistic about the business environment and will continue to prepare for a post-pandemic economic recovery,鈥 Mr. Zobel said.
Meanwhile, stockholders of Ayala Corp.鈥檚 real estate investment trust AREIT, Inc. have approved the increase in its authorized capital stock to P29.5 billion from P11.74 billion.
鈥淭he increase in capital stock would provide the company an opportunity to acquire property in exchange for shares and will allow us to further grow AREIT,鈥 Elaine Marie F. Alzona, chief financial officer and chief compliance officer of AREIT, said in the company鈥檚 virtual stockholders鈥 meeting on Friday afternoon.
Stockholders also gave the go signal to approve Ayala Land鈥檚 subscription to 483.25 million primary common shares of AREIT in exchange for assets valued at P15.46 billion.
Ayala Corp. shares at the stock exchange went up by 1.28% or P9.50 to close at P754.50 each, while AREIT stocks improved by 0.15% to finish at P34.05 apiece. 鈥 Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte
