Ayala Corporation is the Philippines’ best managed company, according to FinanceAsia, a regional magazine on Asian financial markets.
In its eighth annual poll of Asia’s top companies among 167 institutional investors and equity analysts in the region, FinanceAsia also cited Ayala as best in corporate governance and third best in investor relations and strong dividend policy among blue-chip Philippine companies.
Globe chief finance officer Delfin Gonzalez, Jr. was once again named best CFO, followed by Ayala treasurer Ramon G. Opulencia.
Listed Ayala companies figured prominently in all categories. Globe Telecom ranked second among the best managed companies in the country while Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI) and Manila Water Company shared seventh place. Globe, ALI, and Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) also ranked high in the corporate governance, investor relations, and strong-dividend policy categories.
Manila Water was named second best company with mid-sized capitalization, after ICTSI. Cebu Property Ventures and Development Corporation, a unit of Cebu Holdings, Inc., ranked similarly in the small-capitalization category, following Splash Corporation. Other companies mentioned in the FinanceAsia survey include SM Investments, PLDT, Megaworld, Jollibee Foods, San Miguel, and Meralco.
Ayala’s strong performance in the FinanceAsia poll comes on the heels of the Wall Street Journal’s Asia’s Most Admired Companies list where the conglomerate ranked first in long-term vision and corporate reputation and 3rd most admired company in the Philippines. Earlier in the year, Ayala, Globe, BPI, and ALI obtained four of the five top rankings of the Institute of Corporate Directors’ 2007 Corporate Governance Scorecard Project. Ayala also ranked first in the category “Best for Responsibilities of Management and Board of Directors’ among Philippine companies in AsiaMoney’s Corporate Governance Poll.