EXECUTIVE CHANGES: F&C Investment Trust hires CBI chief economist

Mon, 29th Mar 2021 15:13

(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of London-listed company director and manager changes announced on Monday and not separately reported by Alliance News:

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F&C Investment Trust PLC - aims for long-term growth and income by investing in listed equities globally - Appoints Rain Newton-Smith as independent non-executive director, starting May 11. Newton-Smith will replace Roger Bone, who is retiring. She is chief economist at the Confederation of British Industry. Previous to the CBI, she was head of Emerging Markets at Oxford Economics. FTSE 250-listed F&C Investment Trust bills itself as the world's oldest collective investment scheme, having launched in 1868.

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Spirent Communications PLC - Crawley, England-based provider of testing, analytics and security for telecommunications networks - Appoints Maggie Buggie as non-executive director with effect on April 29. Buggie is currently chief business offer at SAP Services, which is part of Walldorf, Germany-based enterprise software developer SAP SE.

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Vesuvius PLC - London-based molten metal flow engineering - Hires Dinggui Gao as non-executive director, starting on Thursday. He currently is managing director of China for Formel D Group, a German service provider to the automotive and components supply industry.

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e-Therapeutics PLC - Oxford, England-based computer-based drug discovery - Hires Karl Keegan as chief financial officer, effective immediately. Keegan was most recently chief executive officer of privately held Hox Therapeutics Ltd.

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Okyo Pharma Ltd - London-based biotechnology company focused on treatments of inflammatory dry eye diseases and ocular pain - Hires Rajkumar Patil as chief scientific officer. Says Patil has 30 years of ophthalmic and pharmaceutical research and development experience, including with Ora Inc and iVeena Delivery Systems. He also worked at the Alcon/Novartis Institute of Biomedical Research.

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Serinus Energy PLC - oil and gas exploration and production in Tunisia and Romania - Dawid Jakubowicz resigns immediately from board, while Eleanor Barke won't stand for re-election to the board at the May 13 annual general meeting. In their place, Serinus hires Natalie Fortescue and Jon Kempster. Fortescue was an investment banker at Investec and Oriel Securities. She joined Genel Energy PLC to establish the investor relations department and also worked with Premier Oil PLC on its reverse takeover by Chrysaor Energy Ltd. Kempster has held CFO positions at companies including London listings Frasers Group PLC and Wincanton PLC, and he currently is interim CFO of FireAngel Safety Technology Group PLC. Kempster also currently is a non-executive director of Bonhill Group PLC, Redcentric PLC and Ted Baker PLC.

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Fragrant Prosperity Holdings Ltd - seeking acquisition in cannabis therapeutics - Hires Daniel Reshef as non-executive director starting on Wednesday. Reshef has had a 25-year career in drug development, including with Hoffman La Roche, Genentech and Bristol Myers Squibb Co.

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French Connection Group PLC - London-based fashion retailer - Hires Neil Page as independent non-executive director. Page was CFO of retailer Carpetright PLC. French Connection entered a formal sales process at the beginning of month after receiving two separate takeover approaches.

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Braveheart Investment Group PLC - makes strategic investments in companies it thinks will outperform - Jonathan Freeman steps down as non-executive director "to devote more time to his other business interests". Starts process for finding a new non-executive director.

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Arix Bioscience PLC - venture capital investor in biotech companies - Pauses hire of James Noble and Axel Wieandt as non-executive directors, citing recently announced strategic review, which encompasses board composition.

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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com