Ayala Corp., one of the country’s largest conglomerates, said Thursday it will deploy P185 billion worth of funds this year to expand property and telecommunication businesses and hike investments in power generation and infrastructure.
The conglomerate’s capital expenditures this year, however, were slightly lower than P190 billion programmed in 2014.
Ayala said in a disclosure to the stock exchange more than half of the group’s capital spending was allotted for property unit Ayala Land Inc., which would invest P100 billion in 2015.
Ayala Land said it would launch more residential, office, hotel and commercial center projects and acquire land for future development to achieve the target of P40-billion net income by 2020.
The group’s telecom business through Globe Telecom Inc. allocated P37 billion for capital expenditures in 2015, including the P8 billion unspent budget in the second half of 2014.
Ayala Corp. said Globe’s capital spending for the year would be used for data-related initiatives and LTE network infrastructure upgrades.
Ayala Corp., the parent company, will deploy P21 billion primarily to support investment programs in power generation and transport infrastructure.
The rest of the amount will be mobilized to fund the growth initiatives of other business units, including Manila Water Company Inc., Bank of the Philippine Islands and Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc.
“We started an aggressive growth strategy a few years back and we continue to undertake value enhancing opportunities amidst this sustained momentum in our economy. Each of our business units are seizing investment opportunities within their individual spaces under this positive environment,” Ayala Corp. chairman and chief executive Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala said.
“In particular, we continue to strengthen our positions in power and transport infrastructure — two sectors that are presenting opportunities for investments with potential to become new growth platforms for Ayala,” Zobel de Ayala said.
Ayala Corp. booked a net income of P14.1 billion in the first nine months of 2014, up by 35 percent from a year ago, driven by the robust performance of real estate, telecom and water units.