Major property developer Ayala Land Inc. plans to build a 200-hectare industrial park for Chinese investors to take advantage of the influx of investments from the second-biggest economy in the world.
Ayala Land president and chief executive Bernardo Vincent Dy said the company was in the process of acquiring a large track of land in Central Luzon to serve as the country’s first Philippine-Sino industrial park.
Dy said Ayala Land was set to form a joint partnership with a Chinese investor for the planned industrial park. The property company plans to launch the industrial park next year.
“We are still in the process of securing the site for this project,” Dy said.
He says the industrial park aims to attract Chinese companies engaged in light industries and manufacturing.
Ayala Land earlier teamed up with a Chinese company for a tile manufacturing facility within the company’s Alviera mixed-use estate development in Porac, Pampanga. The tile manufacturing plant will cater to the demand of the local and export markets.
The Ayala Group continues to engage China on the multiple front, recognizing the nation’s growing influence over the past decade in reshaping global business and trade.
The conglomerate also noted China’s influence in the Philippines was growing as the Durterte administration became friendlier with Beijing.
“This is evidenced through the influx of Chinese tourists in the past two years, increased presence of Chinese business and inflow of Chinese buyers and its subsequent impact on the real estate market,” parent Ayala Corp. said earlier.
President Duterte’s recent state visit to China netted the Philippines $12 billion (P633 billion) worth of investments.
Ayala Corp. said it had increased its investments with Chinese investors as a result.
Aside from planned Philippine-Sino industrial park, the Ayala Group through several subsidiaries have forged several joint venture partnerships with Chinese investors.
The group’s AC Motors has started to work together with Chinese automobile manufacturers, such as Volkswagen China and Maxus.
In the telecommunications sector, Globe Telecoms Inc. deepened its partnership with Huawei and the two are exploring piloting 5G technology in the Philippines.
Ayala Corp. and its subsidiaries, meanwhile, are launching a new venture capital fund with at least $150 million to invest globally in new technologies that can complement its business activities.
Ayala chief finance officer Jose Teodoro Limcaoco said earlier Ayala would seek to focus on startups in their early growth stage and support tech innovations in data and analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, fin-tech, automation, real estate, retail, transport, energy, water, health and wellness, and food.
Ayala and units Ayala Land Inc., Bank of the Philippine Islands, Globe Telecom Inc., AC Energy, and other selected invited investors have committed to raise the fund, which will be managed by Kickstart Ventures Inc. (Kickstart).