Filinvest Group looks to diversify, exploring mergers, acquisitions

MANILA, Philippines — The Gotianun family’s Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC) is exploring investments in new industries that would support the group’s existing portfolio.

FDC chief finance officer Ven Christian Guce said the conglomerate is open to opportunities for potential mergers and acquisitions (M&A), noting that such investments must be in areas where the group is already familiar with.

“We’re looking at other investments in other industries. Of particular importance to us are industries that are adjacent to our existing businesses, and that allows us to play up on our strengths and where we have familiarity,” Guce said.

“Such M&A, if it helps our existing segments, we will be very keen,” he said.

According to Guce, the group has taken particular interest in infrastructure.

However, he said the group is veering away from very highly regulated industries given the challenges it has seen from the recent experiences of its peers.

“We are keen on investments that would be helpful in terms of building the infrastructure of the country, which is also aligned to our current segments,” Guce said.

“For example, in airports, we see that as an enabling infrastructure for tourism because we are in hospitality and in real estate. Airport development or airport operations, there are a lot of opportunities to contribute to improving our gateways, not just for the domestic market but also for the international travelers,” he said.

FDC currently has strategic holdings in key industries such as real estate development and leasing through Filinvest Land and Filinvest Alabang, banking and financial services through EastWest Bank, hotel and resort development and management through Filinvest Hospitality Corp., power generation through FDC Utilities and agriculture through Pacific Sugar Holdings Corp.

It is also a member of the Luzon International Premiere Airport Development Corp., a consortium which took over the operations and maintenance of Clark International Airport in 2019.

“From our existing portfolio, we strongly believe that we have the elements, the foundation to be able to deliver at least 20 percent in earnings growth for the medium and the longer term for the group,” Guce said.

For this year, FDC is allotting P24 billion for capital expenditures to fuel the expansion of its real estate, power and hospitality businesses.

From a small financing business which started in 1955, FDC has since expanded into diverse industries and has remained committed to its purpose of enabling Filipinos to achieve their dreams.

Despite its current size, the company is still in a way considered as one of the smaller conglomerates in the country, according to FDC chief operating officer Ysmael Baysa.

“You can look at it as a disadvantage if you look at it today. But if you are an investor, so how do you measure wealth growth? You measure it by the rate of growth in profit and revenue in the years ahead,” Baysa said.

“So since we are one of the smaller ones, we actually have more runway for growth in the future,” Baysa said.

Baysa said the group’s investment in the organization and people have enabled FDC to become the fastest growing conglomerate in the country in 2023 and 2024.

“We’re building on organization capability and systems in the past years and we continue to invest heavily on that one. It allows the company to unlock its potential and grow very strongly. And since our investment is on sustainable organization capability and systems, that growth can be sustained. Because of that, we have a longer runway,” Baysa said.

“That is why EastWest Bank is one of the fastest growing, that is why our power is one of the fastest growing and that is why even real estate is outgrowing even a relatively anemic market. Our sugar business is profitable while others are struggling and our hotel business is also growing very fast as well,” he said.