GT Capital allots P50 B for capex

MANILA, Philippines - Taipan George Ty’s investment holding firm GT Capital Holdings, Inc. is allotting up to P50 billion for its capital expenditures this year, mostly to fund property and power projects.

“Capex is around P45 to P50 billion,” GT Capital president Carmelo Maria Luza Bautista told reporters after the firm’s stockholders meeting yesterday.

“Bulk of that will be property and power,” he added.

The firm intends to raise P10 billion to finance its capital expenditures.

“We are in the market. We should be approaching the debt capital markets for P10 billion as second issuance, sometime middle of the year,” Bautista said.

GT Capital is engaged in the property business through Federal Land and in power generation through Global Business Power Corp.

Bautista said part of the funds would also be used for the firm’s Toyota dealerships.

 â€œWe’ve increased Toyota dealerships, If there are opportunities, we will look at that. We are very keen on the auto sector,” he said.

In April, GT Capital acquired an additional 9.21 percent of Toyota Cubao, raising its stake to 89.1 percent.

The firm first acquired a stake in Toyota Cubao, one of the pioneering and leading Toyota dealerships in the country, engaged in the sale and distribution of Toyota vehicles, spare parts, and accessories as well as in after-sales service, in March.

The firm likewise raised its stake in Toyota Manila Bay Corp., another Toyota dealership, to 60 percent in March from just 40.7 percent previously.

GT Capital is engaged in the automotive business through Toyota Motor Philippines Corp.

Bautista said the firm would also expand its banking business’ branch network this year.

He said the firm likewise sees opportunities in the non-life insurance sector, given the increase in minimum capitalization requirement.

“The advantage of having scale is you can get good opportunities,” he said.

GT Capital is also into banking through Metrobank and insurance through Philippine AXA Life Insurance (life)  and Charter Ping An Insurance Corp (non-life).