Vol. XXII, No. 150 [ BusinessWorld Online ]
Tuesday, March 3, 2009 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES
AYALA CORP. has reshuffled the chiefs of its property, telecommunications, and water distribution businesses in line with what the country’s oldest conglomerate says is a plan to address changing times.
"The business environment continues to shift and we would like to adapt to these changes in a progressive way," Ayala Corp. Chairman and CEO Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala said.
"It is in this spirit that we announced several movements in our senior executive group that will strengthen the holding company’s executive team while enhancing the trajectory of three of our important operating companies, namely Ayala Land, Inc., Globe Telecom, Inc. and Manila Water Co. Inc."
Antonino T. Aquino, currently president of Manila Water, will replace Ayala Land President Jaime "Jim" I. Ayala who will rejoin the holding firm as senior managing director and a member of its group management committee.
Rene D. Almendras, currently group director of business at Manila Water, will succeed Mr. Aquino at the firm.
Globe Telecom President and CEO Gerardo C. Ablaza, Jr., meanwhile, will be replaced by deputy Ernest L. Cu. Mr. Ablaza will return to Ayala Corp. to oversee the Ayala Group’s interests in telecommunications, banking and allied fields, Globe said in a disclosure.
Mr. Ablaza will remain a member of the Globe board and will be elected chairman of the executive committee, the firm added.
The newly-appointed executives will take office following stockholders’ meetings in April, Ayala Corp. said.
"I am confident that with these appointments, the Ayala Group will continue its tradition of adjusting to changing business and economic environments in ways that will enhance the value created for our stockholders," Mr. Zobel said.
Ayala Corp. said that under Jaime Ayala’s leadership, its property unit achieved 130% revenue and 80% earnings growth over five years.
Mr. Aquino, meanwhile, was said to have been responsible for upgrading Manila Water’s water distribution system, providing water to more than five million people from less than a million people in 1997.
Mr. Ablaza, for his part, was cited for having taken Globe Telecom "from being the fourth-ranked mobile services provider with only 97,000 subscribers and revenues of P2.6 million in 1997, to becoming the second biggest full-service telecom operator with a subscriber base of 25 million and a revenue base of P63 billion in 2008."
John Philip S. Orbeta, managing director and group human resource head of Ayala Corp., said "We are using the strengths of the company the best way we can."
Caridad D. Gonzales, Globe head for corporate and regulatory affairs, said "We are just drawing from the company’s deep bench, and the move is done to further enhance Globe’s trajectory going forward."
Analyst Claire Quiray of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said Mr. Ablaza’s new designation at Ayala Corp. could be seen as a "repair and rescue" assignment, considering a 50% plunge in 2008 profits.
Ayala Corp. has blamed the steep fall on low equity earnings from operating units and a decline in capital gains from share sales.
Analyst Joseph Y. Roxas, president of Eagle Equities, Inc. said that the new assignment would not be detrimental.
"These guys can fit anywhere. You have new roles, then you’ll have new ideas," Mr. Roxas said. — K. J. R. Liu and J. B. F. Santos
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