Insular Life leads P1.1-B term loan to Ayala Corp.

Insular Life is leading a group of seven financial institutions in extending a P1.1-billion syndicated five-year term loan facility to Ayala Corp. The loan will be used to partly finance Ayala’s permanent working capital requirements.

The five-year loan was arranged by Insular Investment and Trust Corp., the investment banking arm of the Insular Life Group of Companies. Insular Life funded P700 million of the P1.1- billion loan with the balance coming from Chinatrust (Phils.) Commercial Bank Corp., the BSP Provident Fund, Pioneer Allianz Life Assurance Corp., Insular Life Savings & Trust Co., Land Bank of the Philippines and Insular Investment & Trust Corp.

Insular Life group chairman Vicente Ayllon said that with the limited investment opportunities available at the moment, the Ayala term loan presented the lenders with a relatively low-risk investment with attractive returns.

Ayala Corp. managing director and senior assistant treasurer Ramon Opulencia said: "The market is looking for good investible instruments and we are happy to be able to provide them with such an outlet. Given the volatility in the offshore capital markets, our near-term plan is to source most of our financing from the domestic market."

Ayala Corp. has interests in real estate, financial services, telecommunications, utilities, electronics and information technology. The company reported an unaudited consolidated net income of P2.65 billion for the nine months of this year, five percent higher than P2.52 billion recorded for the same period last year. The conglomerate’s balance sheet benefited from steady results from its core business in real estate, banking and telecommunications as well as a debt reduction program which the company began in 2000.

Insular Life is the first Filipino life insurance company, with a record of service of 92 years. From its core business of life insurance, it has diversified into allied financial services such as non-life insurance (Insular General), savings and mortgage banking (Insular Saving Bank), health care insurance (I-Care), and investment banking (Insular Investment & Trust Corp.).