The Zobel-led conglomerate has earmarked P5 billion for additional Ayala Land purchases, including P2 billion from its approved capital expenditure budget for investments, signaling confidence in its crown jewel property business.
It has so far spent about P600 million of the budget, a stock exchange filing on Friday showed.
The move comes after Ayala Land shares fell more than 30 percent over the past six months and nearly 45 percent over the past year, making it one of the Philippine market’s weakest-performing blue chips.
Ayala Land has likewise been buying back its own shares under a separate P10-billion buyback program.
This also means Ayala Corp. and Ayala Land have earmarked a combined P15 billion for share buybacks.
At current market prices, that is enough to acquire roughly 7 percent of Ayala Land’s outstanding shares. Buybacks are an effective tool to manage the share price during a downtrend but this could also leave fewer shares available for outside investors.
If carried out on a large enough scale, this could become a concern for large funds that need to trade in bigger volumes.
The investment comes as Ayala Corp. indicated plans to scale back its broader 2026 capital spending program from P230 billion to match last year’s P180 billion, CEO Cezar P. Consing had said.
—Edited by Miguel R. Camus
