PSE names new president-CEO

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) has picked its incumbent chief operating officer, former corporate lawyer Val Antonio B. Suarez, as its new president and chief executive officer.

The appointment of Suarez, an investment banker with more than 20 years of experience in securities practice, was made during a meeting held by the PSE board yesterday.

He replaced another topnotch corporate lawyer, Francis Lim, who resigned from the exchange last February allegedly due to health reasons.

“The long wait is over. After an extensive and comprehensive search for the next PSE president by the search committee for more than half a year with the assistance of an international search firm, the committee decided on the appointment of Atty. Suarez, as president and CEO of the PSE,” PSE chairman Hans B. Sicat said.

Prior to joining the bourse in January this year as senior vice-president, Suarez was a managing partner of the Suarez & Reyes Law Office. He was also chief representative of HSBC Investment Bank Asia in Manila and a senior associate specializing in securities law at SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan. At the law firm, Suarez helped bring to the stock market via initial public offerings (IPO) recognized names such as Ayala Land Inc., RFM Corp., Filinvest Land Inc., Megaworld Properties, SM Prime Holdings, Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Alaska Milk and Petron Corp., among others.

“During his short term as COO with the PSE, Val has demonstrated excellent management abilities and a keen business sense to lead the exchange in the development of the capital markets,” Sicat said.

Suarez graduated from the UP School of Economics in 1980 and the Ateneo de Manila Law School in 1985. He has a Master’s Degree in international commercial law from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

“I am humbled by this appointment and thank our board of directors and stakeholders for their trust and confidence in me for this position. I look forward to working with the new administration of President Aquino III in the reform of our capital markets and development of our economy,” Suarez said.

He is also currently a director of the Securities Clearing Corp. of the Philippines, Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. and the Securities Investor Protection Fund, and a trustee of the PSE Foundation.

During his stint at Sycip, Salazar, Suarez was involved in projects such as the acquisition of Philippine Airlines, the privatization of National Steel Corp., the initial public offerings of Kuok Philippine Properties, Ayala Land Inc., RFM Corp., Victorias Milling, Cebu Holdings, Filinvest Land, South China Petroleum, Selecta Dairy Products, Megaworld Properties, SM Prime Holdings, Swift Foods, Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Vitarich, Alaska Milk and Petron.