GT Capital cautious on new business ventures

MANILA, Philippines — Conglomerate GT Capital Holdings Inc. remains cautious on its ongoing search for new business ventures as part of the group’s plan to further expand its diversified portfolio.

GT Capital chief financial officer George Uy-Tioco Jr. said the company has already declined some potential opportunities not seen as right fit for the group.

“We have evaluated a couple of opportunities that have come across our desk, most of which were actually turned down already just because they didn’t meet our criteria in terms of the type of sector, the kind of returns that we can get and whether or not we are doing it with the right technical partner or the business partner who can help us with that business,” he said.

According to Uy-Tioco, GT Capital has decided not to set a specific timeline with regard to making such new investments.

“We can have an ambition, but to put a deadline to it will be detrimental to ourselves and to our shareholders. What we will do, what we promise you, is we are looking very closely at a number of sectors,” Uy-Tioco said.

“As far as the new sectors are concerned, what we’re looking for is to further diversify the portfolio and to look at sectors that can basically contribute to growth,” he said.

GT Capital currently has interests in market-leading businesses in banking, property development, life and general insurance, infrastructure and utilities as well as automotive assembly, importation, distribution and financing.

To further expand its diversified portfolio, the group previously said that it has set its sights primarily on health care, renewable energy, education and data centers as potential new business ventures over the next decade.

“There are some that appear to rise to the top primarily because we are looking for investments in sectors that can basically contribute to the overall performance of the company and also sectors that we think that are relatively fragmented but have inherently pretty good margins and pretty good returns,” Uy-Tioco said.

“We are still evaluating which sectors to get into, which investments to make. These things don’t come overnight,” he said.

The holding company of the Ty Group earlier said is pouring in as much as $200 million this year to support growth initiatives of its various units and actively pursue expansion to new business ventures.

GT Capital is off to a good start this year with core net income rising by 27 percent year-on-year to P8.7 billion during the first quarter.

Coming from its strong first quarter results, GT Capital is expecting “a more measured growth” for the rest of the year.

“So we had a very good first quarter. Just being mindful that the rest of the year would most likely a little bit more measured compared to the first quarter, but we are still encouraged and optimistic that we will have a pretty decent year ahead of us this year,” Uy-Tioco said.

GT Capital is also closely monitoring geopolitical issues, especially what is happening in the Middle East, on its potential impact to the local economy.