HECTOR Thomas A. Navasero, former chairman and CEO of Philab Holdings Corp., will return to his old post after the resignation of the incumbent CEO Darlene Bernabe.
Bernabe was the former chief executive of state-owned Home Mutual Development Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund). She stepped down as Philab CEO early this week, citing the company’s inability to raise funds via the follow-on offering at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).
Philab said it hired Bernabe to run the company on condition the follow-on offering would see fruition. However, the company deferred its follow-on offering in August upon the advice of its new underwriter, China Bank Capital Corp.
China Bank said Philab has to consolidate its business first before conducting the offer.
Philab also took back its application for the 500-million primary common-shares offering the company submitted early this year to regulators.
Philab is the country’s first medical holding company focused on investing in health technologies. Its subsidiaries include Labit Pte Ltd., Medx Pte Ltd. and IntelliGene.
In a statement, Navasero was quoted as extending gratitude to Bernabe for her “leadership and mentorship over the past challenging months.”
Navasero was the chairman until he stepped down from the post in June citing health reasons. The company said he is now in good condition to lead the company.
“I am very excited to rejoin the operating team of the company and I look forward in executing new business strategies that we have in store,” he said. “With decades of experience in the industry as our backbone, I believe that we are ready to tackle new challenges ahead of us.” VG Cabuag
Philab has been present in the life sciences and healthcare industry since Thomas’s father, Hector C. Navasero, established Philab Industries Inc. in 1958. Philab supplies life science equipment, designs and builds laboratories, distributes in-vitro diagnostics tools and now invests on new business ventures focused on genomics.