Ayala Group eyes FTI

The Ayala Group has expressed interest in acquiring the government’s 120-hectare Food Terminals Inc. (FTI) property in Taguig, a ranking Finance official said.

“The Ayalas have taken a look at that also,” Finance Undersecretary Crisanta Legaspi told reporters.

FTI, an agro-industrial commercial estate in Taguig, was originally built to be a food processing and consolidation center for agricultural products. It houses more than 300 small-to-medium scale companies engaged in different industries such as manufacturing, garments and electronics.

Legaspi said the government is eyeing to sell FTI in 2009. It has been selling state-owned assets to help raise revenues.

Aside from the Ayala Group, Legaspi said there are other Filipino developers interested in acquiring FTI.

However, she stressed that there has been no formal offer yet as the government has still to formally announce the privatization of FTI.

Acquiring the government’s FTI property would be strategic for the Ayala Group as the area is located near Bonifacio Global City in Taguig which Ayala Land, Inc. and other companies, operate.

In 2003, the Ayala Land, along with Evergreen Holdings Inc. of the Campos Group purchased a controlling stake in Bonifacio Land Development Corp. from Hong Kong’s Metro Pacific Corp.

Bonifacio Global City is home to upscale condominiums such as Essensa, Serendra, Pacific Plaza and Regent Parkway and office buildings such as Net One and Bonifacio Technology Center. There are also restaurants and retail outlets and a major shopping center in the area such as the Ayala Land’s Market! Market!.

Earlier, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said the government hopes to raise P10 billion from the sale of FTI.

The government is looking at raising P20 billion from the sale of state-owned assets next year including the FTI property. The figure is P10 billion lower than the P30-billion privatization target for this year and the P90.6 billion generated from the sale of government assets in 2007.

Aside from the sale of the FTI property, the government also hopes to sell its 40 percent stake in PNOC-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC) next year.