Ayala Land acquires full control of El Nido resorts

Property giant Ayala Land Inc. is buying out its partner in its business operating a chain of resorts in El Nido, Palawan, a filing on Wednesday at the Philippine Stock Exchange showed.

Ayala Land, through wholly owned subsidiary Ayalaland Hotels and Resorts Corp., signed an agreement with Asian Conservation Co. to acquire the latter’s 40-percent stake in El Nido Resorts.

Ayala Land did not say how much it would pay for the stake for the venture but it said the deal was expected to close before the end of the year.

“This will solidify [Ayala Land’s] presence in the resort and leisure development market and help boost the country’s tourism industry,” the builder said in its disclosure.

“The company intends to take El Nido Resorts to its next stage of sustainable development, given its strong corporate philosophy on sustainability and proven track record of building world-class real estate projects,” it added.

The company first entered the business after taking a 60-percent stake in the venture. EL Nido Resorts operates Miniloc Island Resort, Lagen Island Resort, Apulit Island Resort and Pangulasian Island Resort, information on its website showed.

This was part of the company’s plans to grow its resort footprint, which could increase to about 1,000 hectares in two to three years.

Ayala Land president Antonino Aquino said previously that the acquisition of El Nido Resorts places the company at halfway through this goal.

Ayala Land reported earlier this month that its hotels and resorts division operates 1,294 internationally branded hotel rooms, 192 island resort rooms in Lagen, Miniloc, Apulit and Pangulasian Islands in the province of Palawan, and 515 Seda Hotel rooms.

Contributions from new hotels and resorts resulted in higher revenues of P2.93 billion, or 62 percent, in the first nine months of 2013 from P1.81 billion in the same period last year, the company said.

Ayala Land, one of the country’s largest developers, said net income grew by 30 percent to P8.6 billion from the P6.62 billion posted in the same period last year.

It said consolidated revenues for the period hit P57.71 billion, 38 percent higher than the P41.86 billion posted in the same period last year.