Cesar Luis "Louie" Bate

In September 2021, RL Commercial REIT, Inc. made history as it debuted on the Philippine Stock Exchange as the country’s largest-ever publicly listed real estate investment trust. In attendance that day was one of its independent directors, Louie Bate, a prominent investment banker who’s also managing director of LMN Advisors, Inc. and president of Celisons Property Co., Inc.

But apart from his reputation as a top executive, Bate is also well-known as a prominent art collector, with a particular penchant for the works of the Filipino greats, like Vicente Manansala and Ang Kiukok. He learned to appreciate art at an early age, from his father and grandmother, who themselves collected Manansala paintings.

Louie Bate is married to Liza Yao-Bate, who is managing director of Richprime Global, the distributor of Barbie dolls in the Philippines.