Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, chairman and CEO of Ayala Corp., announces the new thrust of the Ayala group during a forum at the Ayala Activity Center at the Cebu Business Park. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
Ayala group rebrands with new socioeconomic ventures; P125B to be allotted to fund all businesses
Following the success of Ayala Corp.’s core businesses over the years, the country’s oldest conglomerate has now shifted its focus to develop its emerging socioeconomic brands and has allotted at least P125 billion for the development of all of the firm’s businesses in the next four years.
Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, chairman and chief executive officer of 180-year-old Ayala Corp., said they are committed to pursuing sectors with large gaps in capacity, accessibility, quality, and affordability that have long alienated many low-income Filipinos.
“It is indispensable that we continue as a group to build that (stakeholder) trust and relevance by being a contributor to society as a whole,” he said during the rebranding of the group’s business units at the Ayala Center Cebu in Cebu City on Monday.
Unified brand identity
Zobel announced that their emerging businesses will now take on a unified brand identity and will be named AC — AC Energy, AC Infrastructure, AC Health, AC Education, AC Industrials, and AC Automotive.
Ayala has been known as an enduring brand with a strong track record of innovation that paved the way for many groundbreaking businesses through AyalaLand, BPI, Globe, Manila Water and IMI, all of which have become leading players in real estate, banking, telecommunications, water, and electronics, respectively.
“They have cemented our strong reputation of relevance, reliability, and stability, and strengthened the great level of trust of our stakeholders and (the great level of trust the) stakeholders place on the Ayala brand,” said Zobel.
AC Infrastructure president and CEO Rene Almendras also said in an interview that the group projects to invest at least P125 billion across all its businesses, including its emerging brands, until 2020.
Almendras said that this capital outlay could still increase.
Zobel, on the other hand, cited healthcare and education as the sectors that the group believed would be ripe for transformation given the challenges in these areas.
Healthcare, education
In healthcare, he said accessibility and affordability are clearly a problem, with great demand for better alternatives.
In response to this need, the Ayala group formed AC Health to fill these gaps, partnering in 2015 with Generika, a leading provider of affordable medicine, to launch a chain of community clinics called Family Doc which combines primary care, diagnostics, a pharmacy, a convenience store all in one setting.
Furthermore, lack of access to quality and affordable education has led to massive dropout rates across all educational levels in the Philippines.
With rising income levels, Zobel said people are willing to pay for better education, not at the levels being charged by top-end private schools but for quality at a certain price point.
The Ayala group formed AC Education, in partnership with Pearson from the UK, to set up APEC (Affordable Private Education Center) Schools, a high school system designed to train students with values and skills that will help them achieve the best possible career tracks.
Tech unit
Zobel added that they formed an industrial technologies unit to support the revival of the local manufacturing industry, which is seen to generate employment at a large scale.
“We recognize that employment generation is critical to achieving economic equality and improving quality of lives. With 40,000 employees across our group of companies, Ayala is one of the largest employers in our country today,” said Zobel.
He said that while these emerging businesses are still in their early stages, the group is excited about the trajectory and impact they can create to improve the lives of many Filipinos.
Accelerating the future
Almendras, for his part, also said the positioning of the new brands is “accelerating the future.”
“The core businesses, the older ones, were all about pioneering the future. It started the future. The next set is all about accelerating it. We will not do away with the existing brands. We want to reach more people. We want the country’s economy to grow faster, the reason for investment in these sectors,” he said.
Asked whether there will be a shift in priority, he said the core businesses are income-generating and can already stand on their own.
“It’s not a question of priority. The core businesses are income-generating and are already successful. They have great plans to grow on their own,” said Almendras.
The focus of the Ayala group now, he added, is to bring its new ventures to the level of success the pioneers are enjoying now.
Founded more than 180 years ago, Ayala Corporation is the holding company of one of the oldest and largest business groups in the country.