Ayala unit completes acquisition of German auto parts supplier

A UNIT of Ayala Corp. (AC) has completed the acquisition of a 94.9% stake in a German automotive parts supplier for €26.8 million.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Thursday, the listed conglomerate said its wholly owned subsidiary AC Industrial Technology Holdings, Inc. (AC Industrials) bought a total of 237,250 shares from MT Misslbeck Technologies GmbH (MT). The transaction was coursed through AC Industrials (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.

Ayala said the payment will be made in cash, and also involves the assumption of debt and other liabilities.

MT is an automotive supplier of models, tools, and plastic parts for automotive original equipment manufacturers and has production plants in Ingolstadt, Germany. The company also designs and creates models of entire car parts or parts of a car, produces injection molds for metal and plastic car parts, as well as automotive plastic parts which are produced for prototyping and serial production.

“This investment forms part of AC Industrials’ strategy to increase its competence and capabilities in the automotive value chain and will complement AC Industrials’ existing businesses in manufacturing services and vehicle distribution and dealerships,” the country’s oldest conglomerate said.

Last month, AC Industrials officially opened the first European motorcycle manufacturing factory in the Philippines through a joint venture with KTM Asia. The P500-milllion factory can produce 60,000 KTM motorcycle units annually at full shift.

This forms part of the Ayala group’s bid to tap manufacturing as one of the company’s main drivers of growth.

AC Industrials posted a 22% growth in net income to P332 million during the first quarter of 2017, following a 37% yearon-year increase in revenues to P7.6 billion in the same period. The firm attributed the increase to the performance of both its electronics manufacturing and automotive retail business.

Meanwhile, AC’s attributable net income increased by 19% to P6.93 billion in the same period.

Shares in AC gained P12 or 1.4% to close at P872 each on Thursday. —