AC Industrials eyes renewable energy

The industrial holding firm of Ayala Corp. (AC) is gearing up to expand its manufacturing portfolio as it eyes to venture into the renewable energy space while also exploring new export markets for its locally produced motorcycles.

“AC Industrials, we’re a catalyst for the other businesses within Ayala so we’re also looking at being able to play into this renewable energy space. We feel that there is a disruption that we can participate in into that space and we’re working under the AC Industrials umbrella with the help of IMI on making a stake on that. We’re on the process of working on that right now,” AC Industrial Technology Holdings Inc. president Arthur Tan said.

AC chairman and chief executive officer Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala described the planned venture on the renewable energy space as something “that we can play a similar role that we’re doing on the automotive sector.”

“The renewable energy space is something we’re interested in. The renewable energy space has a strong technology and electronics component where if you get the right patents and the right intellectual capital with the use of manufacturing skillset of IMI, then that’s a good combination,” Zobel said.

IMI, the listed electronics manufacturing services arm of AC, is currently into the automotive, telecommunications, industrial health, defense and aerospace sectors.

Aside from venturing into the renewable energy space, Tan said AC Industrials is currently on the discussion phase to expand the export market for its locally manufactured KTM motorcycles beyond China and Thailand.

“So we’re talking on how we’re going to expand that. We are also looking at expanding the models that we’re building. We’re only building two small displacement motorcycles right now: 200cc and 400cc. We’re looking at being able to expand that into the larger displacement motorcycles,” Tan said.

AC Industrials, since it was formed last year, has been actively pursuing investments as part of its strategy to assemble a portfolio of businesses that develop, enable, manufacture, and commercialize automotive and other industrial technologies.

Last June, AC Industrials reported that it closed a deal to take over German automotive supplier MT Misslbeck Technologies GmbH.

Through IMI, the firm acquired a 76 percent stake in VIA Optronics, a Germanbased display solutions provider, as well as completed the acquisition of an 80 percent stake in STI Enterprises Ltd., an electronics design and manufacturing solutions company based in the UK.

In April last year, AC Industrials signed a partnership agreement with Austrian motorcycle manufacturer KTM AG for the production and distribution of motorcycles in the Philippines.