ALI looks at other regions for new opportunities

Written by Willy Rodolfo III / Reporter

Thursday, 30 April 2009 20:05

Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) will continue to strengthen its presence in the support infrastructure of business process outsourcing (BPO) industry but is also looking at making a bigger presence in other markets like in the middle-income housing industry. President Antonino T. Aquino said the company is considering opportunities in other regions where they do not yet have presence. “We are looking at addressing markets where we have no presence in the past, particularly middle-income housing. We are also looking at presence in geographical locations as well with other product types,” he told reporters. Aquino, who also took over the chairmanship of ALI affiliate Cebu Holdings Inc. (CHI) from former president Jaime Ayala, said while the company continues to be affected by what is happening economically in the rest of the world, several key projects and plans are also ready to roll out at the first sign of an upswing. “We are preparing if there are times of softness, when there will be a situation where a level of growth will come back,” he said. “We would like to be ready to take advantage of the growth when it happens.” CHI, Aquino said rolled out several projects just in time when the world was “in trauma” as a result of the global economic crisis. He particularly pointed to the billion-peso expansion of Ayala Center Cebu called the The Terraces and the full renovation of the Marriott Cebu City Hotel. He said CHI and ALI are prepared to invest more in development projects especially in the BPO sector, which he said should continue to grow in the country despite the crisis albeit in a slower rate. “We see a continued growth in the BPO so that is a direction we want to pursue. The industry requires support infrastructure and even retail sector to support the industry,” Aquino told reporters in Cebu City.