Ayala Corp [AC 596.50 ?0.3%; 27% avgVol] [link] announced that will appoint Erry Hardianto as CEO of its subsidiary logistics holding company, AC Logistics (ACL), effective July 1. Mr. Hardianto will come to ACL with over 23 years of experience with Maersk in senior positions across SE Asia. AC said he has “successfully managed, grown, acquired and transformed complex multi-country logistics operations across Asia.”
MB BOTTOM-LINE: I’ve been calling for AC to get serious about logistics for a long time. I think this is just one step of many potential steps that AC could have taken in the right direction, but it’s a logical first step to make. It's interesting that AC made such a big deal about mentioning Mr. Hardianto’s ability to manage, grow, acquire, and transform complex logistics operations. I hope this suggests that they’ve got big plans for this unit that go beyond the tepid organic growth of its logistics interests in AyalaLand Logistics [ALLHC 2.03 ?1.0%; 59% avgVol]. There are a ton of interesting acquisition targets sitting out there, ready to get rolled up by a deep-pocketed conglomerate with the vision to do so. Lots of conglos have kicked the tires here. Is AC going to be the one to actually do it?
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