BIZ BUZZ: SM Prime taps finance heavyweight Cris Torres
Something is stirring at property giant SM Prime Holdings, Inc.—and it comes in the form of a familiar name in corporate finance circles.
The Sy family-led developer has appointed Cris Noel Torres as executive vice president, formalizing the entry of a seasoned dealmaker whose resume reads like a tour of infrastructure, power and investment heavyweights.
Torres, 49, is no stranger to high-stakes balance sheets.
Before joining SM Prime, he served as managing director and chief financial officer of EEI Corp. from 2020 to 2024, where he also sat as president or board member of nine subsidiaries while overseeing finance, treasury, legal and business development.
That role alone put him at the nerve center of an engineering group deeply involved in major projects locally and abroad.
His career roots run even deeper.
Torres spent nearly a decade at First Pacific Group, gaining exposure to infrastructure, utilities, power generation and portfolio management—sectors that happen to overlap neatly with SM Prime’s sprawling footprint.
Earlier stints saw him advising technology and communications firms on mergers, acquisitions and financing at a US-based investment bank, alongside experience in private equity and consumer goods.
And if credentials matter in the boardroom—as they often do—Torres brings academic firepower to match.
He holds an MBA major in finance from the prestigious Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a mechanical engineering degree from the University of the Philippines Diliman, where he also earned his professional license.
His appointment comes as SM Prime quietly reshapes its leadership bench, alongside plans to expand its board from eight to nine members and prepare for its next annual stockholders’ meeting in April.
For now, insiders will be watching closely how Torres’ financial pedigree fits into SM Prime’s long-term ambitions.
After all, in conglomerates like this, key officer appointments rarely happen without a bigger story unfolding behind the scenes.
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