MANILA, Philippines – Property powerhouse Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) has marked its maiden entry in Malaysia with a $43 million investment in a local property development company.
ALI said yesterday it acquired a 9.16 percent stake in Malaysian firm GW Plastics Holdings Bhd through a private placement for a total amount of about P1.9 billion.
The acquisition was made through Regent Wise Investments Ltd., ALI’s wholly-owned subsidiary in charge of its international ventures.
ALI’s Malaysian investment marks only its fourth international foray and its second in the Asean region following “very small investments” made in China, Canada and Myanmar in previous years, company officials said.
“Asean is one of the fastest growing regions in the world. Although the Philippines is growing as quickly, we feel that there are also other areas of opportunities in the region that we could possibly participate in. One of those countries which is experiencing fairly good growth rates not only this year but over the previous years is Malaysia. We feel Malaysia is a market that shows a lot of opportunity for us to participate in,” ALI president and chief executive officer Bernard Vincent Dy said in a press briefing yesterday.
GW Plastics, which would soon be renamed MCT Bhd, is a property development company specializing in mixed-use projects that include retail, office, hotel, and mid- to affordable residential.
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Dy said MCT Bhd currently has a market capitalization of about $450 million and is considered a “medium-sized” company in Malaysia.
The company has several ongoing projects in OneCitySubang Jaya and Cyberjaya, as well as a landbank in Dengkil in Klang Valley.
“We felt it is a good opportunity to participate in this company and hopefully be able to grow the company together with them as Malaysia continues to grow,” Dy said.
ALI officials said the company’s newly-acquired interest in MCT Bhd would entitle it one of the seven board seats in the Malaysian firm.
“I think through our board seat we will have some influence in terms of the strategic direction of the company. But in terms of active day to day management, we will not be participating given there is very good team on the ground with very good knowledge,” Dy said.
“By partnering with a company such as MCT Bhd, Ayala Land will be expanding its footprint in Southeast Asia in line with its diversification goals and sets the platform for growth in Malaysia. This allows Ayala Land to enter the Malaysian market with an experienced team, benefit from synergies of the partnership, and further add value to MCT over the long term to enable it to be a key player in the Malaysian real estate market,” ALI said in a regulatory filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange.
Dy said ALI is open at further hiking its stake in the company depending on “how things would turn out.”
He said the property unit of the Ayala conglomerate would continue to look for opportunities outside the country in the coming years but expects bulk of its revenues to still come from Philippine operations.
