Ayala Corp cold storage JV to start construction on massive facility

GMAC Logitech Refrigeration Corporation (GMAC) [link], the cold storage joint venture between Ayala Corp [AC 675.00 ?1.2%] and private cold storage player Glacier Megafridge (GMI), announced it would break ground in a few weeks on a new 11,798-pallet position temperature-controlled facility in Panabo City, Davao del Norte. GMAC said that it expects the new facility to begin commercial operations by Q1/25, and that once completed, it would cater to “local food producers, manufacturers, importers, institutional food service, and quick service restaurant clients.” The facility will triple GMAC’s system-wide capacity.

MB BOTTOM-LINE: Glacier is one of only two or three cold storage providers who have the DNA required to grow into a potential national leader. It’s great to see the Ayala Group continuing to press forward with cold storage development, though I’m disappointed that we don’t have better insight into their strategy. It sucks to see this developed under the AC Logistics Holdings subsidiary of AC, and not as part of the AyalaLand Logistics [ALLHC 2.13 ?2.3%] entity that has seen its cold storage operations take off in recent quarters. Even putting it in ALLHC would be sub-optimal, as their cold storage is only just a small fraction of what ALLHC actually does. Still, I applaud any news like this where serious companies are building significant structures in the cold storage space. At least AC is doing something! What about all those other conglos?