By Krista Angela M. Montealegre, National Correspondent
AYALA Corp. (AC) said its venture unit will take the lead in identifying companies developing emerging and potentially disruptive technologies, with a mandate to invest $250 million by taking minority positions.
AC Chief Financial Officer Jose Teodoro K. Limcaoco said in a briefing that about $150 million has been deployed so far and the remaining $100 million will be disbursed in the next five years by AC Venture Holdings Corp.
AC Ventures was also the Ayala group’s vehicle for investments in Mynt, the fintech arm of Ayala subsidiary Globe Telecom Inc., and e-commerce platform Zalora Philippines.
“One of the objectives of AC Ventures is to look for these investments that can provide insight into new businesses that we can use for our own business units,” Mr. Limcaoco said.
In the last 18 months, AC Ventures has invested in financial technology, Silicon Valley-based firms engaged in artificial intelligence, a company developing new ways of doing business in real estate, a leading e-commerce company in China, and a consumer firm in Indonesia.
Artificial intelligence is an area of interest for the group, AC Chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala said at the group’s shareholder meeting. The Ayala management team will visit Silicon Valley and China to learn more about the new technologies.
“It is evolving very fast. It ‘s going to transform the way we work. It is happening a lot faster than people expected. We’re looking at it very carefully. We’re looking at it across all industry groups,” Mr. Zobel said.
He added he is “not a believer in investing in cryptocurrency,” but is looking at the potential of the underlying technology behind the digital currency.
“We do believe, as a group, there is some validity in blockchain technology becoming a new platform to transact,” Mr. Zobel said.
The 183-year-old conglomerate’s business interests include real estate, financial services, telecommunications, water infrastructure development and manufacturing. It has recently entered power generation, transport infrastructure development, healthcare, education and e-commerce to better align the group with the country’s development agenda.
Apart from expanding its business portfolio, Ayala reaffirmed its commitment to grow overseas, with a target to raise the share of its international business to 10% by 2020 from 7% currently, by which time net profit is expected to have doubled to P50 billion.
AC Energy Holdings, Inc., which operates in Indonesia and Thailand, is looking to expand in Vietnam and beyond Southeast Asia as it looks to increase the share of its international operations to as much as 40% from 20%, ACEHI President John Eric T. Francia said.
Manila Water Company, Inc., now the largest foreign investor in Vietnam with a presence in Thailand and Indonesia as well. It aims to triple or quadruple the contribution of the overseas business in the next five years, Manila Water President Ferdinand M. Dela Cruz said. Overseas operations account for 5-6% of net profit.
Integrated Micro-Electronics, Inc. (IMI) is set to expand into Serbia with the opening of its 20th manufacturing plant, IMI CEO Arthur R. Tan said.
Ayala Land, Inc. will use Malaysian firm MCT Bhd. as the platform by which to grow the property firm’s international business, said Anna Maria Margarita B. Dy, ALI group head for strategic land bank management.
The Ayala group continues to invest heavily in the Philippines despite its aggressive expansion program. The conglomerate has invested P898 billion in the last six years, equivalent to half of the value of total foreign direct investment over the same period, Mr. Zobel said.
“To be relevant as an institution in the next 20, 30, 40 years, (AC President) Fernando (Zobel de Ayala) and I believe we have to start becoming comfortable competing in the international setting. What we are proud of is these are not standard operations. We’re beginning to compete in complex (and) competitive industries and that will do well for us here because we will bring those same standards here,” Mr. Zobel said.
Ayala Corp. rose P13 or 1.43% to P919 on Friday.

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