MANILA, Philippines — A major leadership revamp is underway at the country's oldest conglomerate next year.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Thursday, Ayala Corp. said Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala will quit his post as chief executive but will stay as chairman of the company.
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Jaime, 61, will be replaced by his younger brother Fernando Zobel de Ayala, currently the company's president and COO. Once the transition is completed on April 2021, Fernando, 60, will be Ayala Corp.'s president and new CEO.
Despite the revamp, the Zobel brothers will retain their current posts — as chairman or vice-chairman, respectively— at various subsidiaries of the Ayala Group, the company said.
"Fernando and I are very fortunate to work with a deep leadership bench; and we are confident that planned leadership transitions such as this are critical ingredients for sustainable success," Jaime said of his brother.
"Both Fernando and I have worked as a leadership team for many years now, and we intend to continue charting Ayala’s path forward in tandem,” he added.
The leadership reshuffle will come at a difficult time for the 186-year-old conglomerate left unscathed by the onslaught coronavirus pandemic. In the first 9 months, Ayala Corp. reported a net income of P11.4 billion, down 75.37% year-on-year, reeling from lockdowns that restricted the company's mall and property business.
Ayala Corp.'s announcement also came a day after its banking arm, Bank of the Philippine Islands, disclosed the appointment of Jose Teodoro "TG" Limcaoco as new president and chief executive also effective April next year. He would be replacing Cezar "Bong" Consing who has been leading the bank since 2013.
“Together, we have worked hard to build on the many successes of those who came before us; and are committed to continuing to improve lives and create value for our next generations of colleagues, their families, our broad ecosystem of stakeholders and our Country,” Fernando said for his part.
Following the news of the leadership change, shares in Ayala Corp. shed 1.06% to P840 each worse than the main index's 0.02% dip on Thursday.