EEI appoints new chairman after previous owner sells down stake

Source: https://www.bworldonline.com/

EEI Corp. has appointed Lorenzo V. Tan chairman of the listed construction and engineering services company, replacing Helen Y. Dee who stepped down for personal reasons.

In a stock market filing, the company said it had voted to appoint Mr. Tan, who is also president and chief executive officer of House of Investments, Inc., on May 2 after the resignation of Ms. Dee. He was the former president and chief executive of the Yuchengcos’ Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.

The appointment comes after House of Investments sold a 20% stake to the Romualdez-led RYM Business Management Corp. for about P1.25 billion, or P6.03 each of the 207.26 million common shares. As a result of the block sale, the Yuchengco-led firm reduced its stake in EEI to about 35.3% from 55.4% previously.

House of Investments said the deal was an opportunity to explore the construction sector with a strategic partner and to “reduce exposure to increasing interest rates by using the proceeds to reduce the loans.”

It said RYM invests in mining, real estate and media through Bright Kindle Resources and Investments Inc., Marcventures Holdings, Inc., Benguet Corp. and Prime Media Holdings, Inc.

Meanwhile, the board of EEI also appointed Remegio C. Dayandayan, Jr., the president of RYM, as director. Mr. Dayandayan replaced Roberto Jose L. Castillo, who retired from the position. He is also a director for Bright Kindle.

EEI shares closed unchanged at P4.98 apiece on Thursday. — Adrian H. Halili