Arroyo re-elected chairman in PSE elections

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) elected Alicia Arroyo of RCBC Securities for another one-year term as chairman, beating her former backer, veteran stockbroker Vivian Yuchengco, in yesterday’s polls marred by a number of last-minute withdrawals.

Arroyo was re-installed at the helm of the PSE board by a majority vote of eight, against Yuchengco’s four votes. The anticipated three-cornered fight for the post, however, failed to materialize as former chairman Robert Coyiuto Jr., who has a long-standing feud with Yuchengco, suddenly withdrew his candidacy along with other broker-candidates affiliated with his group.

Aside from Arroyo – the wife of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s brother in-law Ignacio – the six other brokers elected to the board were: Filomeno Francisco, Eddie Gobing, Marita Limlingan, Ismael Cruz, Francisco Villaroman, and Yuchengco.

Meanwhile, the independent or non-broker directors who make up the board’s majority – a requisite under the Securities Regulation Code – consist of PSE president Cayetano Paderanga Jr., banker Peter Favila, lawyer Francisco Lim, academician Raul Pangalangan, GSIS president Winston Garcia, PLDT’s Annabelle Chua, Enrique Aboitiz Jr. of the Aboitiz group and San Miguel Corp.’s Ramon Ang.

The withdrawal of Coyiuto and six other brokers, notably former chairmen Felipe Yap and Trinidad Kalaw, was seen as a move to amplify their opposition to the controversial private placement deal which involved the sale of 40 percent of the PSE’s shares to institutional investors.

As a demutualized organization, the PSE’s broker-shareholders are required by law to reduce their 100 percent ownership in the bourse to only 20 percent of total outstanding shares, the maximum equity limit allowed for an industry group.

A group of brokers identified with Coyiuto’s group has raised their objection to the sale, principally pointing out that the deal was disadvantageous to the PSE since the shares were sold at a much lower price of P119.50 compared to the then prevailing market price of between P195 to P200 per share.

The shares were sold to the Government Service and Insurance System (GSIS), PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund, San Miguel Retirement Fund, Kim Eng Investment Ltd., KE Strategic Pte. Ltd., A. Soriano Corp. and Equinox Partners.

The brokers have also filed a suit before the Regional Trial Court to nullify the deal, noting that this was consummated in undue haste and lack of transparency.

Ironically, two of the signatories, Francisco and Cruz, ran and made it to the list of broker-directors.

The meeting yesterday was also tainted with controversy due to the sudden withdrawal of non-broker director Enrique Aboitiz from the board over differences in his represented interest, leaving his post as sectoral nominee vacant.

Aboitiz was appointed to the board to represent the listed issuers, being an official of Aboitiz Equity Ventures and WG&A but there were reports that the ATR-Kim Eng group, a minor stockholder in the PSE, also appointed him as proxy.

The departure of Aboitiz and the absence of SMC’s Ang in the meeting, however, did not make a dent on the results of the board elections as Arroyo handily won over Yuchengco. PSE president Paderanga did not cast his vote since this would only be needed to break ties.