Manila's Ayala Corp says has 13 bln pesos for investment

MANILA, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Ayala Corp (AC.PS), the oldest conglomerate in the Philippines, has 13 billion pesos ($278 million) in cash to fund potential acquisitions and investments, a company official has said.

"We're casting our net wide in terms of looking for opportunities," Eric Francia, Ayala Corp's managing director for corporate strategy, said at the weekend.

"Investing in new businesses is definitely on top of the list... we still believe in certain growth areas within the sectors we play in... BPO (business process outsourcing) and water space."

Ayala Corp has interests in mall and property development, banking, telecommunications, electronics, water utility and business services.

It recently raised its stake in water utility firm Manila Water Co (MWC.PS) to 43.3 percent via a 3.5 billion pesos deal with British firm United Utilities (UU.L). [ID:nMAN307788]

Francia said the company's business decisions would be "calibrated" and new acquisitions would only be pursued if they create value for shareholders.

"I don't think we will make numerous investments with that kind of money because we always believe that scale is a consideration," Francia said.

He said the company had considered a "broad array" of deals in the past but they did not come to fruition because they failed to meet the company's primary consideration.

"There's a lot of reasons why past deals didn't work out. Issues on valuation are almost always an issue especially in a market with a volatile environment," he said.