Ayala to spend P1B for new logistics unit

LISTED Ayala Corp. is spending P1 billion through 2019 to expand its logistics unit Entrego Fulfillment Solutions Inc.

At a news briefing in Makati City on Monday, Jose Rene Almendras, president of Entrego’s parent company AC Infrastructure Holdings Inc., said the subsidiary had spent P500 million this year and would spend P500 million more next year to establish a new warehouse in Region 4A (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon provinces, or Calabarzon), the exact location of which he refused to identify.

The facility would stand on a 12,000-square meter (sqm) area and be fully automated. It would increase the firm’s sortation capacity to 100,000 bags a day from the current “five-digit” volume.

Construction of the warehouse will begin at yearend and commercial operations will start in the third quarter of 2019, Almendras said.

He also said expanding overseas was “one of the things that Entrego is looking at,” and that AC Infrastructure had identified “key locations and wide spaces” where it would enter.

Further details on this, however, were not disclosed.

“Young as it is, Entrego has attracted international friendships already. There are foreign entities [that] expressed interest in Entrego, so we will move as fast as we can in fulfilling whatever is needed,” Almendras said.

One of them is a Nasdaqlisted firm that had partnered with AC Infrastructure in establishing an e-commerce-related firm by yearend to complement Entrego.

Almendras declined to give further details pending non- disclosure agreements with the group’s partner.

First established as online shopping firm Zalora Philippines’ in-house logistics platform in 2013, Entrego emerged independent as a joint venture between AC Infrastructure and Zalora affiliate Global Fashion Group in 2017, according to its website.

The AC Infrastructure unit offers technology-driven tailored logistics solutions to boost the business performance of its clients across different industries.

Shares of Ayala Corp. rose by P18.50 to end at P928.50 apiece on Monday.

ANGELICA BALLESTEROS