Philippines News Archives

Thursday, July 20, 2000

AC ( 07/20/2000 : PSE )
Please be informed that Ayala Corporation (Ayala) and Hormel Foods Corporation (Hormel) have started talks to explore the possibility of Hormel's investment in Pure Foods Corporation (PFC). Ayala owns 93.26% of PFC while Hormel is a 40% joint venture partner of PFC in its meat subsidiary, the Purefoods-Hormel Company, Inc. Both Ayala and Hormel have expressed satisfaction over the performance of the management of PFC. Over the years, PFC has increased its market share in nearly all product lines, improved its profitability, and maintained a strong balance sheet. PFC's strong sales are expected to continue in the coming years. A new meat processing plant is scheduled for groundbreaking in August 2000 requiring an investment of around P1 B which will be funded from a combination of internally generated cash and debt. The new plant is scheduled to start operations in the fourth quarter of 2001. The Ayala group, together with its various partners, has been very active in seeking out new investments over the past few years. In banking, the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) absorbed CityTrust in 1996 and Far East Bank and Trust Company early this year, with the acquisitions having a combined market value of P63 B. As a result, BPI has been able to attract the Development Bank of Singapore as a strategic partner. In telecommunications, Ayala and Singapore Telecom International invested P3.4 B in new equity in Globe Telecom in 1997. In 1999, Ayala acquired a controlling stake in Isla Communications Co., with an investment now worth around P600 M. In the process, it was able to bring in Deutsche Telekom AG as another partner in its telecommunications business. More recent initiatives include ventures in the new economy which say the launch last April of iAyala, a P1.5 B company with Silicon Valley venture capitalist Diosdado Banatao as a partner. In June, Ayala, together with its consortium partners, the Lopez, Gokongwei and Aboitiz Groups, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company and United Laboratories, Inc., announced the formation of a P1 B e-procurement company. The above initiatives are expected to continue as part of Ayala's strategy of moving ahead. The above information is being submitted in compliance with the SEC and PSE rules.
- posted by StockMarket @ 11:44 PM

AC ( 07/20/2000 : AFX )
Ayala Corp said it has started exploratory talks with Hormel Foods Corp for the latter to invest in Pure Foods Corp, Ayala said in a letter to the stock exchange. Ayala Corp, however, did not state how much stake Hormel can possibly take in unit Pure Foods. At present, Hormel is a 40 pct joint venture partner of Pure Foods in its meat subsidiary, Pure Foods-Hormel Co Inc. Ayala Corp said Pure Food's strong sales are expected to continue in the coming years. The company will launch the groundbreaking for its 1-B peso new meat processing plant next month which is scheduled to start operations in the fourth quarter of 2001. At 11:38 am, Ayala Corp was up 0.10 at 6.70 pesos while Pure Foods was untraded but last closed at 64.0.
- posted by StockMarket @ 11:44 PM

Tuesday, July 18, 2000

AC ( 07/18/2000 : STAR )
Competition between the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) group and Ayala Corp. has gone beyond the confines of telecommunications and has extended into the Internet and data business arena. While PLDT made a public announcement recently on the creation of a P1.6-B Internet Data Center (IDC), Ayala Corp. through its Internet services arm, iAyala, is silently planning the construction of a similar facility in September. IDCs are the latest state-of-the-art facility booming around the world with an estimated 60 such centers to become operational in Asia between now and 2001. The facility provides end-to-end services such as data warehousing, web hosting, co-location, application service provisioning, hardware and software support, data management services and messaging services. Jack Madrid, iAyala, executive director, said yesterday that they will be working with a foreign partner and are currently in discussion with at least four Asian companies. He refused to provide additional information about the negotiations. Madrid said they are initially planning to build a 40,000-square meter building in Makati. More centers will be set up in other parts of the country as the need arises, he added. Without disclosing any figure, Madrid said that iAyala will not spend as much as PLDT since the company already possesses prime properties which can be used for the undertaking and, thus, they no longer need to buy expensive lots. PLDT earlier said that of the P1.6 B allocation, P641 M went to the IDC's hardware and support systems while the rest of the amount went to land acquisition and the building. Unlike PLDT, he said that iAyala's IDC will primarily cater to the requirements of the conglomerate's diversed business even as the company is also looking at attracting customers from neighboring countries and the rest of the world. "Our own needs will grow too and we need a world-class data center that we ourselves manage. But we also have our own regional and international plans because if we limit ourselves to the local market, the demand won't be so high. Yet, we believe it does not make sense to build IDCs in other countries. Let them come to us," he said. Madrid, stressed, though, that iAyala is not competing with PLDT, noting that the two companies bring different strengths to the business. "It's not a are one-on-one competition," he said.
- posted by StockMarket @ 11:42 PM

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