Xurpas undertakes management revamp

Technology firm Xurpas Inc. has revamped its top management team and engaged regional advisory firm Primeiro Partners to map out its next stage of growth.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Xurpas said Raymond Racaza—one of the company’s three cofounders—had stepped down as CEO, president and director effective Jan. 30, 2019.

Alexander Corpuz, who has served as Xurpas’ chief financial officer since 2015, will assume the role of interim president.

“A new CEO will be announced in due course,” Xurpas said in a statement.

Racaza will remain as principal shareholder with a 20-percent stake in the company.

“I would like to thank Raymond for his almost two decades of service to the company: first as a cofounder to Fernando Jude “Andy” Garcia and myself, then as COO, and, most recently, as our president and CEO. His dedication and contribution to the firm are immeasurable,” Xurpas chair Nix Nolledo said. “I will work closely with Mr. Corpuz and the rest of our management team during this period of transition.”

“Primeiro Partners is a leading regional advisory firm, with deep expertise in identifying strategic options for its clients. We are excited to be working with them to chart the next phase in our company’s story,” said Nolledo.

Xurpas earlier said it had been investing in engineering resources as part of an aspiration to transform itself into a platform company. The bulk of the products offered by platform companies are created externally, Facebook, which makes money from people’s conversations, or Google, which makes money from websites they don’t own. Uber and AirBnb are likewise platform companies.

Primeiro Partners is a regional advisory firm founded by Stephen Sieh, former managing director of Evercore Partners. The firm offers investment banking, asset management and strategic partnership services.

Veteran banker Lorenzo Tan, former president of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. and former president of the Bankers Association of the Philippines, is Sieh’s comanaging partner at Primeiro Partners.