Antitrust body clears Ayala sale of 40% stake in logistics arm

Ayala Corp. has finalized the entry of a Danish investor into its logistics arm, with the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) giving the go-ahead to the sale of a 40-percent stake in AC Logistics.

EMIF II Holding III B.V., an investment vehicle of the infrastructure fund manager AP Moller Capital P/S, will acquire the minority stake.

The latter is an affiliate of AP Moller Holding, the parent company of AP Moller Group.

In a statement on Wednesday, the PCC said it cleared the transaction on Nov. 20, 2025.

This followed a review in which the antitrust regulator found no competition concerns in three areas. First is domestic and international freight forwarding.

Second is the nationwide market for contract logistics. And third is the container liner shipping services for sea freight forwarders.

“The PCC determined that the transaction is unlikely to result in a substantial lessening of competition due to the presence of substantial competitive constraints on the parties,” the commission said.

Ayala had touted the deal as one that would strengthen AC Logistics’ service offerings. These include end-to-end logistics services, freight forwarding, contract logistics, cold chain services and nationwide distribution.

AC Logistics operates several firms under its sole subsidiary Air 21 Holdings. These include LGC Logistics Inc., Cargohaus Inc., U‑Freight Philippines Inc. and U‑Ocean Inc.

For its part, the AP Moller Group counts global shipping and logistics provider AP Moller-Maersk among its businesses.

According to the PCC, domestic and international freight services remain highly fragmented. This gives customers a wide range of service providers to choose from.

It added that the contract logistics market remains competitive due to performance-based tenders and differences in service quality and innovation. Likewise, it noted that container liner shipping continues to have several global and regional players.