Ayala News

Ayala Group underscores paradigm shift to sustainability
By Mary Ann Reyes (The Philippine Star) Updated November 11, 2009 12:00 AM

SOURCE: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=522290&publicationSubCategoryId=63

 

MANILA, Philippines – “We are in a race against time,” Ayala Corporation chairman and chief executive officer Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala told some 300 key executives and managers of the Ayala Group of Companies who gathered yesterday for the first sustainability summit to discuss ways these companies can address urgent sustainability issues.

The one-day summit aimed to provide direction and additional impetus to the Ayala companies, six of which are publicly listed, to make significant adjustments to their strategies, business models, products, and operations.

“We have to recognize that we are in a race against time. But it will be more of a marathon rather than a sprint,” he said.

Zobel told The STAR that it will take some time before sustainability can be an integral part of their business, but the more important thing right now is that the managers are more aware that sustainability has to become part of their planning process.

Zobel pointed out the urgent need for a paradigm shift toward sustainability and a change in the way businesses do things.

For one, he noted that society is on a dangerously unsustainable track. As resources become increasingly scarce, he said tensions are building up. “We should be part of the solution rather than the problem. We must gear ourselves to be solution providers,” he emphasized.

Among those in attendance were Ayala Corp. president and chief operating officer Fernando Zobel de Ayala, senior managing directors Jaime Ayala, Gerardo Ablaza Jr. and Delfin Lazaro; Bank of the PhilippineIslands president Aurelio Montinola III, Manila Water president Rene Almendras, and Ayala Land president Antonino Aquino.

Zobel said another reason for the need for a paradigm shift is that customers and society in general expect large institutions, like Ayala, to be more engaged in providing solutions.

He added that talent and investments will gravitate more and more toward companies that are socially responsible.

While previously admitting that the shift in business orientation towards sustainability can limit the Ayala Group’s choice of new businesses, Zobel emphasized that this approach can also open new opportunities.

“The shift towards a more sustainable way of doing business will give us a whole new dimension in terms of branding, as well as pride as a company. It also encourages us to look for interesting new solutions,” he said.

In order to shift to a fully sustainable business, Zobel said there is first a need for those in the Ayala group to be more familiar with the concept of sustainability. “Even our planning assumptions will have to change,” he pointed out.

He also said they have to be more proactive in integrating sustainability efforts in the way they do business. “After all, it opens up new opportunities as well as new markets for us,” he said.

He also cited the need to increase the social impact of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities.

He pointed out that last year alone, the Ayala group produced 260,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2).

“We need to plant 1.5 million trees a year to address this. It would be easier if we just reduce our electricity usage,” he said.

Zobel added that there is a need for the Ayala Group, and other businesses, to alter their definition of success by putting more emphasis on their activities’ social impact and less on the balance sheet and profit and loss statement.

In the past, the CSR approach was more oriented towards philanthropy and charitable institutions. In recent years, Ayala’s CSR activities have become more focused on interventions in education, environment, and entrepreneurship.

“Currently, we are putting more emphasis on the impact and sustainability of our interventions. So while our philanthropic work will continue, we expect to see more of our CSR activities with a sustainable business model attached to them,” the company said in a statement.

For the first time, the company noted that they now have standard metrics of sustainability across all Ayala companies covering human resource development, environment, and financials.

“Ayala has decided to take a careful and broader look at how we can incorporate more powerful and innovative sustainability principles into our business models and operating practices for greater impact on the environment around us and the development of the communities in which we operate,” he said.

“While there are many challenges to achieving substantial and lasting impact, we are committed to being leaders and catalysts in moving business practices back towards sustainability,” he stressed.

Ayala’s commitment to sustainability includes continuously reducing the environmental impact of its operations; innovating in its essential products and services to serve the disadvantaged in an environmentally friendly way; addressing education, microenterprise, environmental and emergency issues in its community involvement.

“While we are in the relatively early stages of our sustainability journey, we are confident that with perseverance and focus, we will be able to make significant and lasting contributions to a stronger country and a better world while growing our profitability as we have done for the last 175 years,” Zobel said.

ALI Pres Aquino Gets Award

Management Men of the Year 2009 chosen

SOURCE:

Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation

Antonino T. Aquino, President and CEO of Ayala Land and former president of Manila Water Company, and Dr. Jesus P. Estanislao, Chair of the Institute of Corporate Directors and the Institute for Solidarity in Asia, are the Management Man of the Year 2009 awardees of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP).

To read the rest of the article, click the link below:

http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/226893/management-men-year-2009-chosen

Nuvali Outdoor Challenge

Feliciano tops Nuvali Outdoor Challenge

Philippine Daily Inquirer

By Jasmine Payo

SOURCE LINK:

http://sports.inquirer.net/sportsevents/sportsevents/view/20091026-232428/Feliciano-tops-Nuvali-Outdoor-Challenge

 

VETERAN Mountain bike rider Frederick Feliciano found his way back to the top.

Feliciano, a 2005 Southeast Asian Games silver medalist, conquered the rough terrain to rule the cross country elite class of the Nuvali Outdoor Adventure Challenge recently in Sta. Rosa and Calamba, Laguna.

“It was very difficult,” said Feliciano, an Allaga, Nueva Ecija, native who also finished third in last summer’s Padyak Pinoy bikathon. “There were many ripples and I was just glad to finish the course.”

Feliciano, who pocketed the P10,000 top prize, overtook eventual runner-up March Aleonar after the first 15K loop of the muddy 40K course.

Former motocross champion Glenn Aguilar similarly regained his winning form to dominate the elite open four cross competition.

The two-day Dirt Weekend event drew over a thousand off-road bikers to Nuvali, an emerging 1,750 hectare biking destination in the outskirts of Metro Manila.

“The course was very challenging,” said Aleonar, a 23-year-old Army private from Davao.

Alvin Benosa, another veteran Army rider, wound up third in the elite class.

More sporting events, including wakeboarding, marathon and dirt bike competitions are lined up in Nuvali, Ayala Land vice president and Nuvali general manager Jun Bisnar said.

“The response is overwhelming,” said Bisnar. “We will certainly entertain more mountain bike activities like this here in the future.”

***

 

For Ayala Land inquiries, call COCO MIDEL 0917 580 2013, or email midel.jerico@ayalalandinc.com / coco.ayala@gmail.com.

West Tower in Serendra

Part 2 of Serendra project scheduled to start next year

Written by Miguel R. Camus / Reporter

SUNDAY, 25 OCTOBER 2009 18:47

Source Link:

http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/companies/17716-part-2-of-serendra-project-scheduled-to-start-next-year.html

LISTED developed Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) is targeting to launch next year its second luxury high-rise condominium project inside One Serendra in Fort Bonifacio as a follow up on the successful East Tower which, officials, said continues to sell better than expected.

The 52-story condominium, to be called West Tower, will likely be launched in the latter of part of 2010, said Melissa Gil, residential buildings and leisure head of Ayala Land Premier, the company’s high-end unit.

At present, the 42-story East Tower which was launched in March 2008, is already 70-percent sold thanks to the strong demand from local buyers such as retirees and their families.

“We will [fully] sell East Tower in the first to second quarter next year at the rate we are going,” Gil said in an interview last week. She also noted that the financial crisis had little effect on local customers. “It’s not that buyers didn’t have the money, [the problem was] where to place it.”

She said the 3-bedroom units of East Tower have been fully sold, each costing an average of P36 million.  The project features a total of 283 units.

In addition, the project offered a limited number of themed rooms such as the 400-square meter sky pool unit, which has an indoor swimming pool, costing over P50 million each.

“These were the first to go,” noted Gil.

Located at the corner of Mckinley Parkway and 32nd Street in Bonifacio global City in Taguig, the East Tower will begin unit turnover in June 2012, said ALI. The West Tower is seen to offer over 370 units and will rise in an adjacent property.

The high-rise component forms the latter portion of the 4.5-hectare One Serendra project. ALI said this complements the initial low- and mid-rise phases in line with the whole 12-hectare Serendra development. Two Serendra, meanwhile, will offer five mid-rise condominiums and four towers.

***

For more updates and inquries, call COCO MIDEL of Ayala Land Premier at 0917 580 2013, or email midel.jerico@ayalalandinc.com / coco.ayala@gmail.com.

 

Ayala Land in Subic

Ayala Land inks pack with SBMA for P3-billion project
By subictimes.com

SUBIC BAY Freeport: all is set for Ayala Land Inc. to develop a 7.5
hectare prime land in Subic after officials of Subic Bay Metropolitan
Authority and Ayala Land signed an agreement that would pave the way for
the P3 billion project in Subic.

Ayala Land Inc. has signed a 50 year deal with SBMA for the development
of a prime lot located along the Rizal Highway, the lot is located
between the main gates of the Freeport.

The project is expected to generate some 10,000 new jobs from the start
of its construction.

Ayala Land Inc. would build a shopping mall complemented by a business
process outsourcing office building and hotel.

“The company’s development will be a catalyst for growth in the
Subic-Olongapo corridor and will be a major mixed-use project in the
Subic Freeport Zone that is well-planned, integrated and environmentally
sustainable,” Ayala Land inc. deputy compliance officer Alfonso Javier
Reyes was quoted saying in recent reports.

The proposed mall will offer basic goods seeking to address the everyday
needs of Subic and Olongapo as well as unique concepts that will also
serve tourists and transients, Reyes added.

This development is company’s first foray into Subic Bay Freeport
itself, although it has an investment in leisure estate Anvaya Cove in
nearby Morong, Bataan which was introduced in 2005.

Presently, the lot which will be developed by Ayala Land Inc. is being
occupied by several restaurants, food chain, the Freeport Service
Corporation, Landbank, a gas station, the night market, a gym and Comteq
Computer College.

 

For Ayala Land inquiries, call COCO MIDEL 0917 580 2013, or email at coco.ayala@gmail.com / midel.jerico@ayalalandinc.com.

BGC To Equal Makati

Bonifacio Global City expects to equal Makati space by 2012

(Fr. BusinessWorld Online)

THE BONIFACIO Global City expects to become as big as Makati in terms of floor area in three years, the developer of the former military reservation in Taguig said, pointing to the mushrooming of condominiums, corporate headquarters, and retail businesses.

This would be a huge change from what used to be viewed as just an alternate route to the Makati central business district (CBD).

In a statement, the Fort Bonifacio Development Corp. (FBDC) said it expects Bonifacio Global City’s gross floor area to hit 2.6 million square meters (sq. m.) by 2012 or more than twice the figure today. Citing various studies, FBDC said it expects the supply of residential units to reach 8,442 units — at par with Makati’s and surpassing Ortigas’ 7,000 units.

SOURCE LINK:

http://www.bworldonline.com/BW092109/content.php?id=046

For Ayala Land inquiries, call 0917 580 2013, or email coco.ayala@gmail.com / midel.jerico@ayalalandinc.com.

Green Roofs for Ayala Malls

MANILA, Philippines – The view from above will be a whole lot greener with Ayala Land Inc.’s push towards a more environmentally-conscious future.

The concept of green-roofing has gained ground with city and urban planners in recent years. The idea of transforming office building rooftops and open spaces into gardens, lush with plant life, serves more than just an aesthetic purpose.

To read the rest of the article, click the source link below:

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=504607&publicationSubCategoryId=86

Regards,

COCO MIDEL

0917 580 2013

coco.ayala@gmail.com /midel.jerico@ayalalandinc.com

ALI & NHA

Ayala Land, NHA to build Quezon City business district

ABSCBN NEWS

Source Link:

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/08/28/09/ayala-land-nha-build-quezon-city-business-district

MANILA – Real estate giant Ayala Land Inc. and state-owned National Housing Authority (NHA) have entered into a joint venture deal to develop the 29.1-hectare North Triangle Property in Quezon City into a central business district.

The joint venture marks the conclusion of a public bidding for the project that began on October 3, 2008, Ayala Land said in a statement.

Based on the proposal that Ayala Land submitted to the government, the North Triangle Property will be developed as the Philippines’ first transit-oriented mixed-use business district that is well-planned, integrated and environmentally balanced.

The project is estimated to cost P22 billion, inclusive of future development costs and current value of the property, which Ayala Land and NHA will contribute as their respective equity share in the joint venture. The parties expect to start construction in 2 years.

Aside from generating fresh jobs and revenues for the government, the new development will help the NHA in achieving its mandate of transforming non-performing assets into income-generating ones, and providing housing for informal settlers. The NHA is set to relocate thousands of families presently occupying the property.

“Ayala Land’s track record, strong branding, and ability to attract top locators will ensure that the development will achieve its highest potential value,” the company said.

In the development and management of business districts, Ayala Land’s signature projects include the master-planned Makati business center, Bonifacio Global City, Cebu Business Park, and Madrigal Business Park in Alabang, Muntinlupa.

Nuvali in Zine cover

Hi!

Nuvali is on the cover of BluPrint magazine. Cool. =)

Feel free to contact me if you want to know more about Nuvali.

Sincerely,

COCO MIDEL

Mobile 0917 580 2013

Email midel.jerico@ayalalandinc.com / coco.ayala@gmail.com

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Couple moves in Ayala Greenfield

Moving into a haven for daily living

Business Mirror

SOURCE: http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/life/15011-moving-into-a-haven-for-daily-living.html

FOR businessman Cristina Leon-Yu and her lawyer husband who both lived their entire single lives in the city, moving out of the metro to Ayala Greenfield Estates, the 350-hectare Ayala Land Premier residential community in Calamba, Laguna, seemed like a bold decision to make.

“We recently got married and we’ve been looking for properties in the south where we can settle down and build a family. When our friend invited us over to Ayala Greenfield Estates to check the place, we thought it would be too far,” says Cristina

“We would visit our friend every now and then. We came once a month, then it became twice a month,” reminisces Cristina. “And then we realized that of all the communities we’ve been to, Ayala Greenfield Estates was just incomparable. The more we visited the area, the more we fell in love with it. And it really is just 30 minutes from Alabang! That’s when we finally decided to live here.”

With their Asian contemporary house now standing on the adjacent lots the couple has acquired, the two have never been happier. Aside from the natural beauty surrounding the community, its full range of village amenities, the excellent security and, most of all, the friendly neighbors, Cristina loves how close the community is to important establishments. “I find everything accessible. Actually, we still do most of our errands in Alabang. It only takes 30 minutes for my husband to get to his work every day.”

But most important, what drew the couple to the residential subdivision was the change of life it provided them.

“When my husband and I were single, we were both very, very busy,” muses Cristina. “Now, we’re more relaxed and we have more time for ourselves. We love seeing Laguna de Bay from our bedroom and the living area. It feels like we have a living painting surrounding our house every single day. The place allows us to just spend time and commune with nature together. It’s really more of an emotional investment for us as a couple. Our home here is our very own sanctuary.”

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LOT INVENTORY as of August 26, 2009

Regards,

Coco Midel

AYALA LAND PREMIER

Mobile +63 917 580 2013

Email midel.jerico@ayalalandinc.com / cocoayala@gmail.com