Yuchengco, Coyiuto top PSE board elections

Without much funfare, the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) elected yesterday its new board, with most of the incumbent directors filling in the seats.

Veteran stockbroker Vivian Yuchengco who heads First Resources Management & Securities, received the highest number of votes among stockbrokers with a total of 12.66 million followed by businessman-stockbroker Robert Coyiuto Jr. with 12.65 million. Coyiuto owns R. Coyiuto Securities.

Completing the broker-director slate are William Ang of Astra Securities, Eddie Gobing of Lucky Securities, Alejandro Yu of R.S. Lim Securities, David Chua of Asia Pacific Capital Equities, and Eusebio Tanco of Venture Securities. PSE chairman and former Supreme Court Associate Justice Jose Vitug and PSE president Francis Lim were re-elected and retained their respective positions for the third straight year. Yu, on the other hand, was elected as treasurer.

Lim has been president of the exchange since Sept. 16, 2004.

Aside from Vitug, others nominated as independent directors are lawyer Cornelio Peralta who has been PSE director since 2004, and Jose Luis Javier, who has been an independent director of the bourse since 2005. Under the Securities Regulation Code, eight of the 15 board seats are reserved for non-broker direcºtors while the balance is held by brokers.

Occupying the non-broker director positions are investment banker and Asian Alliance Investment Corp. president Roberto Atendido to represent the Investment Houses Association of the Philippines; Amor Iliscupidez (assistant vice-president and general manager of San Miguel Corp. Retirement Fund); Omelito Tiangco to represent investor Government Service Insurance System, and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. treasurer and concurrent Smart Communications chief financial officer Anabelle Chua, who has been director since March 2004.

"The new board, I am hope-ful, will be able to aptly manage major and minor issues from within and without, as well as to take full advantage of the prevailing milieu. But we must bring to a close still some unresolved problems," Vitug said.

Vitug, however, remains upbeat on the stock market given improving economic fundamentals, coupled with low inflation and strong liquidity.

"I see in the not-too-distant future the elvation of the PSE into a premier exchange in this region. It can be done. But it will not be done without your support," Vitug said.

The meeting lasted for almost five hours due to the controversial issue surrounding the removal of PSE shareholders’ pre-emptive rights as shareholders wanted more time to study it.

"We did not get the approval of two-thirds of the shareholders. That’s because only 79 percent of the oustanding capital showed up," said Lim.

The waiver of pre-emptive rights was necessary in order to reduce brokers’ shareholdings in the exchange to the 20 percent single industry ownership limit. At present, brokers own 46 percent of the PSE. Vitug said the PSE would go back to the Securities and Exchange Commission and probably ask for exemptive relief. He, however, said the exchange is looking at several options to comply with the demutualization mandate. "We would try to persuade brokers to start selling their shares or the PSE itself could buy back the shares. These are just some of the options," Vitug said.

Lim said shareholders approved the deal between the PSE and Ayala Land Inc., the new controlling shareholders of Fort Bonifacio Development Corp., for the joint development of a building in Bonifacio Global City.

The proposal is for the PSE to sell to ALI its stake in a property firm set up to receive the donated land from FBDC (donated when Metro Pacific was the controlling shareholder of FBDC) in favor of a stake in the new joint venture company that will construct the building where the PSE will relocate its offices.

Lim said the PSE can either sell or lease its properties in Tektite and Tower One on Ayala Ave.

Construction of the unified exchange may take place in the third quarter of the year and is slated for completion by 2010. The new building will rise on a 5,000 square meter lot almost across the Hongkong Shanghai Banking Corp, in Global City.

Lim, for his part, said he will continue to implement with more focus its Leap-A-Mile program to further expand the retail investor base.

He said the exchange will also pursue plans to launch real estate investment trusts in the stockmarket.