Ayala celebrates 180 years

MANILA, Philippines - It is a story with many twists and turns, a narrative that shares in the nation’s past and the rich history of the Filipino people.

In the words of Ayala Corp. chairman emeritus Jaime Zobel de Ayala, “this is a story that begins in the year 1934. One hundred eighty years ago, the foundations of the country’s longest-lasting business house started to be built, by enterprising men and women, who saw horizons that went well beyond where their own lives would lead them.”

Indeed, Ayala Corp., one of the country’s biggest family-led conglomerates boasts of a history so rich, starting in a simple, two-story wooden building on Echague Street in Quiapo, Manila.

 â€œI am constantly surprised with what happened. To keep the spirit alive, it’s important to reflect on the past,” Ayala chairman and chief executive officer Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala said in a recent interview.

Ayala started as Casa Roxas, a business house that built a distillery to derive greater value from cane sugar.

Today, it is a conglomerate with businesses in real estate, financial services, telecommunications and investments in water, electronics, automative, business process outsourcing as well as transport infrastructure.

Zobel narrates that investing in telecommunications and water was not part of the plan. In fact, his father, Don Jaime and his grandfather, specifically advised him and his brother Fernando not to go into highly regulated utilities.

 â€œBut we realized we could make a difference. We could really fundamentally make a difference in the national development goals of the country,” Zobel said.

Looking back, Zobel said, the conglomerate is proud to where it is now.

“The story began in 1834 in what was Las Islas Filipinas. At a time Manila’s business houses were engaged mainly in executing customers’ orders for buying and selling of commodities for a fee, landowner and entrepreneur Domingo Roxas and his young industrial partner Antonio de Ayala created a company that would engage in agribusiness,” Ayala’s history said.

The distillery later on exported various products to Europe. Many of these products competed in the international arena.

“When a Spanish royal decree established El Banco Espanol-Filipino de Isabela II, Southeast Asia’s first private commercial bank, Antonio de Ayala was appointed director representing the Manila business community. Thus, began the Ayala involvement in banking. Banco Espanol Filipino — which issued the first Philippine paper currency — later became Bank of the Philippine Islands,” the conglomerate said.

Many decades later, between two world wars and a global economic recession, Ayala went into real estate development.

“These were admittedly unremarkable. Parts of the Hacienda Makati were parceled to develop subdivisions of the kind that was common at the time. Some other parts were later sold at very low prices or donated to charity. When the family’s assets were apportioned in 1914, the Makati property went to the cousins Jacobo, Alfonso and Mercedes Zobel de Ayala. They and their successors would bring Ayala to what it is today,” the company also said.

Mercedes’ husband, Col. Joseph McMicking provided a new vision for Ayala and for developing what remained of the Ayala property into what would later emerge as the country’s first modern Central Business District.

“With professional teams, Col. McMicking and his successors in management -- Jacobo’s son Enrique Zobel and Alfonso’s son Jaime Zobel -- steered Ayala to great success in the 20th century. Today, Jaime Augusto and Fernando Zobel share leadership of a modern conglomerate involved in diverse industries and with a much broader impact on the life of the nation.

Today, as Ayala continues its expansion and diversification, it keeps an enthusiastic eye for the many thousands of people who will begin and build their own businesses through the ones it creates.

But it’s not all business, the company’s leaders said.

“We have always believed that the development of every individual foregrounds the development of the whole,” brother Fernando Zobel also said.

Augusto Zobel said guided by its commitment and core values of excellence, commitment and integrity, Ayala’s long narrative of growth will continue.

 â€œIt’s quite visible where we’re heading…We’re an institution that is always looking for opportunities, that seeks to bring capital, people, partnerships and credibility to where we can. We’re always looking to add value or develop new ideas that fundamentally help develop the Philippines,” Zobel said.

 â€œIn the end, we realize is what’s meaningful to all of us is to contribute in some broader way to development,” he added.