Ayala firms dominate bond market

Conglomerate Ayala Corp. has breached the P200-billion mark in the value of bonds listed on the local fixed-income trading platform, accounting for about a fifth of total bond listing in this market.

Recently, the Ayalas’ banking arm Bank of the Philippine Islands listed P25 billion worth of bonds on the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. (PDEx), bringing the total local peso bond market to the trillion-peso level.

“Ayala has been a beneficiary of the country’s significant economic growth. This has served as a catalyst for us to unlock many opportunities and push us to develop new ideas to incubate new businesses, and to explore prospects for disruptive innovation,” Ayala Corp. chair and chief executive Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala said.

This year, the Ayala group of companies has listed P203.13 billion worth of bonds, making up about 20 percent of the Philippine bond market today.

BPI’s recently listed P25 billion bonds were priced to yield 6.797 percent a year for a tenor of 1.25 years. The base deal of P5 billion was covered 7.5 times.

“Today’s trillion-peso bond market is the result of many factors—a vibrant economy, an innovative private sector and a commitment by the government sector to enhance the enabling environment,” said commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission Ephyro Luis Amatong.

According to PDEx, the Ayala group has been a pioneer in the issuer community since the exchange started in 2008. That year, Ayala Corp. and Ayala Land listed a combined P10 billion worth of bonds.

Since then, the Ayala group has consistently tapped the debt market to support the aggressive growth strategy of its various businesses in real estate, banking, telecommunications, water and power.

Over the last five years alone, Ayala has invested a group-wide sum of P748.3 billion in capital expenditures to fund investments largely in Ayala Land and Globe Telecom, including new ventures in energy, industrial technologies, infrastructure, health care and education.