Ayala holding firm hikes capital to P56.2 B for new ventures

MANILA, Philippines -  Ayala Corp., the holding company for the diversified business interests of the Ayala Group, is raising its capitalization by more than 50 percent to give it enough elbow room to fund profitable and fresh business opportunities.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Ayala said its board of directors approved an increase in its authorized capital stock from P37 billion to P56.2 billion.

The capital hike would be implemented by increasing the number of common shares from 596 million to 900 million with a par value of P50 each share, as well as creating 40 million Series C preferred shares with a par value of P100 apiece.

The preferred shares are redeemable, non-convertible, non-voting and have preference over common shares.

Ayala is keen on venturing into power and infrastructure development as it positions itself for future growth.

The company is planning to participate in the Aquino administration’s Private-Public Partnership (PPP) program where around 80 infrastructure-related projects worth P740 billion will be auctioned off hopefully within the year.

The conglomerate was also earlier reported to be scouting for opportunities in the field of renewable energy.

Ayala, through wholly-owned unit Michigan Power Inc., teamed up with Diamond Generating Asia Ltd. (DGA), a subsidiary of Mitsubishi, to explore opportunities in the field of solar power in the Philippines.

Under this joint venture, Michigan and DGA agreed to form PhilNewEnergy Inc. which will undertake the exploration and pre-development of possible solar projects in the Philippines. The joint venture company is 60 percent owned by Michigan Power while the remaining 40 percent by DGA.

Michigan made its first bid to break into the power generation business by partnering with Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) and First Gen Corp. in acquiring the 246-megawatt Angat hydroelectric power plant in Norzagaray, Bulacan. The consortium, however, lost.

Ayala has investments in property through Ayala Land Inc., telecommunications (Globe), banking (Bank of the Philippine Islands), water distribution (Manila Water), electronics manufacturing (IMI) and business process outsourcing (LiveIt).

The capital hike will also cover Ayala’s planned 20 percent stock dividend to all common stockholders as of a record date yet to be fixed by the SEC.

The stock dividend will be paid not later than 18 trading days from the record date.