ALI continues share buyback program

MANILA, Philippines — Ayala Land Inc. continues to buy back  shares to prop up its share price which has been battered since last year.

ALI senior vice-president, CFO and treasurer Augusto Bengzon said the company  repurchased 506,000 common shares on Wednesday (June 21) alone.

This brings ALI’s total cumulative number of shares purchased to date to 344.9 million  amounting to P8.9 billion.

ALI has appropriated P26 billion for its current share buy-back program.

its shares have been on a downtrend since December last year. ALI has been trading at an average price of P23.31 per share from a 52-week high of P33.45.   Its 52-week low is P22.35 per share.

This week alone, foreign and local investors have dumped ALI shares, pulling down the index.

Traders said ALI’s share price was also affected by the rebalancing of the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) index which took effect on June 1.

ALI  was among those included in the MSCI rebalancing. As of May 31, the company had an index weight of 7.78 percent, with a market capitalization of $3.46 billion.

The index measures the performance of the large and mid-cap segments. Some fund managers track the MSCI index composition to realign their portfolios.

With 15 constituents, the index, which is reviewed and rebalanced twice a year, covers about 85 percent of the local equity market.

Investors are also keeping a close watch on ALI’s borrowings.

ALI earlier said it was looking to raise P60 billion this year, of which the company is planning to issue P22 billion worth of fixed-rate retail bonds while the balance of P38 to P40 billion while the balance will be through bank borrowings.