Latest news with #JaimeZobeldeAyala
Forbes
28-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Philippines' Ayala Corp. Aims To Quadruple AC Health's Valuation To $2 Billion
Ayala Corp.—controlled by billionaire Jaime Zobel de Ayala and his family—is scaling up its healthcare venture AC Health into the conglomerate's next unicorn with $2 billion in equity valuation by 2035 about four times its current value. To get there, the venture will continue to expand its network of hospitals, clinics and drugstores both organically and through acquisitions in key cities across the Philippines, AC Health CEO and President Paulo Borromeo said. 'We are building a healthcare group for the long term,' Borromeo, who has helmed the startup since it began 2015, told Forbes Asia on the sidelines of Ayala Corp.'s media briefing last week. AC Health has capital to bankroll its expansion plans in the next two to three years but would need additional equity for hospital acquisitions, he said. AC Health currently accounts for 4% of Ayala Corp.'s net asset value (NAV), according to Borromeo. That's about 29 billion pesos ($515 million) based on Ayala's NAV of 726 billion pesos as of end-2024. AC Health is one of the ventures started and built-up by Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala and brother Fernando, since taking the helm of Ayala Corp. from their father Jaime in 2006. The healthcare company has joined the list of the brothers successful start-ups that includes mobile carrier Globe Telecom; Mynt, operator of fintech GCash, which is valued at $5 billion; and renewable energy behemoth ACEN. Ayala Corp. is also making a push into electric and hybrid vehicles through AC Mobility. Ayala Corp. president and CEO Bong Consing said the conglomerate has poured about 15 billion pesos into AC Health since it started in 2015, and has expanded rapidly in the past two years with projects including an oncology center. Consing expects AC Health to become profitable soon as the company has already scaled up to meet increasing demand for quality healthcare services and medicine. AC Health's group revenue rose 10% to 9.4 billion pesos in 2024 with its clinics and hospitals delivering an industry-beating 22% increase, according to a stock exchange filing. Despite the topline growth, the company booked a wider 610 million loss due to asset impairment charges related to online doctor consultation app KonsultaMD and ramp-up costs of the new cancer hospital. Excluding the start-up cost of the cancer hospital, AC Health has been core net income positive since 2023, Borromeo said, adding the company has been EBITDA positive since 2021. From an investment in Generika Drugstore a decade ago, Borromeo has put together a portfolio of 880 drugstores through two pharmaceutical companies including two drug importers licensed to distribute over 1,178 medicines. AC Health also includes a network of 236 corporate and multi-specialty clinics and six hospitals under Healthway Medical. Borromeo plans to expand AC Health's footprint to 1,150 retail pharmacies, 300 clinics and 10 hospitals in the next three years. There are still hospitals ripe for acquisitions even after the purchases by rival conglomerates that have moved ahead in healthcare, he adds. AC Health's expansion has been eclipsed by tycoon Manuel Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which has acquired a series of hospitals making it the country's medical center operator with 27 facilities. Mount Grace Hospitals, which runs the second-biggest network with 24 facilities and led by the billionaire Campos family, also grew rapidly in the same period. The Campos family also control Unilab, the country's biggest home-grown drug maker; and food, beverage and sauces company Del Monte Pacific. Borromeo is unfazed by competition as AC Health has built a netwok of healthcare facilities and pharmacies alongside a digital platform that's geared to take advantage of opportunities in the industry. 'The momentum picked up a lot only in the last four or five years,' Borromeo said. 'It spiralled up after the pandemic. For the first five years we were still experimenting here and there: pharmacies and diagnostic clinics. It was in 2019 that we began a series of acquisitions that were more meaningful.' Ayala Corp. is the country's oldest conglomerate that was started by the grandfather of Jaime Zobel de Ayala, the family patriarch, in 1834 as a distillery. Today, the Manila-listed company has expanded into banking, energy, logistics, utilities and real estate. With a net worth of $2.6 billion, the family is among the richest in the Philippines.
Forbes
23-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Philippines' Ayala Unit Raising $530 Million To Boost Renewable Energy Capacity
An ACEN solar farm in Zambales, north of Manila. Courtesy of ACEN ACEN—controlled by billionaire Jaime Zobel de Ayala and his family's Ayala Corp—is raising up to 30 billion pesos ($530 million) to build new solar and wind farms and almost triple its renewable energy capacity to 20 gigawatts by 2030. To raise the fresh capital, the Manila-listed company plans to sell shares to existing shareholders at 2.30 pesos each, which is about an 18% discount from ACEN's closing price on Tuesday, before the proposed share-sale was approved by the board. The shares dropped 7.9% to close at 2.58 pesos on Wednesday. The latest capital call, the fifth since ACEN started in 2019, could be the last common equity call at the parent level, Eric Francia, president of ACEN said. 'It's hard to say never but hopefully this capital call would last us for the rest of the decade,' Francia told Forbes Asia on the sidelines of the company's media briefing. The funding will support ACEN's capacity growth of between 15% and 20% per annum in the next five years, Francia said. The company currently has 7GW of renewable energy capacity, primarily across Australia, India, the Philippines and Vietnam ACEN aims to complete its stock rights offering by September, chief financial officer Jonathan Back said, adding part of the proceeds will be used to pay debt. Going forward, potential partners can invest in specific projects being undertaken by ACEN subsidiaries, giving the company more flexibility in raising capital, according to Back. ACEN will focus future expansion projects in the Philippines, India, Australia and Laos/Vietnam as the company already has a sizable presence in these markets. The company is slated to complete this year some of its mega projects, including the 600MW Monsoon wind farm in Laos and the 520MW Stubbo solar project in Australia. Within the next 12 months, it will start building another 1GW of new projects. Since 2019, when Ayala Corp.'s AC Energy bought Phinma Energy and turned it into ACEN, its capacity has grown by an average of 20% to 25% annually through 2024, according to Francia. Arran Investment, a firm affiliated with Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC, owns 17% of ACEN. Both shareholders have committed to subscribe to the stock rights offering, according to Back. Ayala Corp. is the country's oldest conglomerate that was started by the grandfather of Jaime Zobel de Ayala, the family patriarch, in 1834 as a distillery. Today, the Manila-listed company has expanded into banking, energy, healthcare, utilities and real estate. With a net worth of $2.6 billion, the family is among the richest in the Philippines.
Forbes
22-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Fintech Unicorn GCash May Delay Philippines' Biggest IPO If US-China Trade War Escalates
A customer pays with GCash in Manila, the Philippines, Nov. 11, 2017. Mynt—operator of the Philippines' most popular e-wallet GCash and backed by the billionaire Zobel de Ayala family—may defer its IPO should the intensifying trade war between the U.S. and China escalate and continue to roil markets. The GCash operator is owned 36% by Globe Telecom, a joint venture between Singapore Telecom and Ayala Corp, which is owned by billionaire Jaime Zobel de Ayala and his family. Mynt's other investors include the Philippine conglomerate's AC Ventures, China's Ant Financial and Japan's MUFG Bank. Globe Telecom and Mynt are working to make the fintech 'push-button ready' to hold an IPO once market conditions improve, Carl Cruz, the newly appointed CEO of Philippine mobile carrier. 'All the requirements are being prepared so that when the right time comes the IPO is going to happen,' Cruz told Forbes Asia on the sidelines of his maiden media briefing as Globe Telecom CEO. 'It has to be the best possible condition for the IPO to happen. If market conditions deteriorate then we will have to take a position.' Mynt's IPO, which is anticipated by some analysts to raise between $1 billion and $1.5 billion later this year, will be the biggest maiden share sale in the Philippines since the 2021 listing of Monde Nissin, which raised $1 billion. GCash has been contributing positively to Global Telecom with the phone company's share of Mynt's earnings in 2024 reaching 3.8 billion pesos, up from 2.4 billion pesos in 2023 and 808.3 million pesos in 2022. Globe Telecom reported 21.5 billion pesos in core net income last year. Mynt in August received $800 million from AC Ventures and MUFG Bank, valuing the fintech company at $5 billion, making it the most valuable Philippine unicorn. GCash is used by eight out of 10 Filipinos, according to Globe. The platform has over six million merchants with services ranging from payments, lending, insurance and investments. Ayala Corp. is the country's oldest conglomerate that was started by the grandfather of Jaime Zobel de Ayala, the family patriarch, in 1834 as a distillery. Today, the Manila-listed company has expanded into banking, energy, utilities and real estate. With a net worth of $2.6 billion, the family is among the richest in the Philippines.
