LSRG.L Regulatory News (LSRG)

25 Jan 2008 14:37

Open Joint-Stock Company LSR Group25 January 2008 NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, CANADA OR JAPAN For immediate release 25 January 2008 LSR GROUP ANNOUNCES CHANGES TO THE PROPOSED BOARD OF DIRECTORS LSR Group ("LSR" or the "Group"), one of the leading real estate developers andbuilding materials producers in St Petersburg and the Leningrad region, todayannounces that on January 24 the Board of Directors of OJSC LSR Group grantedthe request of Mr. Andrey Molchanov, the founder of LSR Group and a nominatedcandidate for the position of the Chairman of the Board, to withdraw hiscandidacy from consideration at the EGM scheduled for the 7th February 2008. MrMolchanov's request is due to his nomination to the Upper House of the RussianFederation Federal Assembly as a Senator. Under existing Russian legislation thestatus of Senator prevents its holder from participation in the management of abusiness entity. As previously announced, the Group intends to increase its Board of Directors.Board meeting held in January 2007 nominated eight candidates to the new Board,however due to Mr. Molchanov's decision it is now proposed to increase the Boardfrom five to seven members, comprising four Executive Directors and threeNon-Executive Directors. Subject to their appointment to the Board by LSR'sshareholders at an EGM on 7th February 2008, the current members of the Board -Igor Levit, Dmitry Goncharov, Mikhail Romanov, and two independent directors -Sergey Skaterschikov and Lauri Ratia are nominated for re-election. ElenaTumanova, CFO of LSR Group is nominated as a new Executive Director and SeppoJuha Remes (Finland), a President of Kiuru Partners LLC, as a new Non-ExecutiveDirector. Commenting on today's announcement Igor Levit, CEO of LSR Group, said: "We arecommitted to the highest standards of Corporate Governance and I am delighted towelcome the new additions to the Board. We believe our investors will recognisethe strength of the the team we have assembled to meet the new challenges as apublic company while delivering on the growth strategy. I would also like to congratulate Andrey Molchanov on his nomination for theposition of Senator representing the Leningrad Oblast and wish him every successin his new role." NOTES TO EDITORS: The biographies of the current members of the Board of Directors of OJSC LSRGroup are available on the company website www.lsrgroup.ru/en/investors New nominations: Elena Tumanova Elena Tumanova has been working for LSR Group since its foundation in 1993 andhas held a senior finance position with a number of LSR Group companies. In 2000she was appointed as a CFO of LSR Group. Born in the Lipetsk Oblast in 1958, Ms Tumanova holds degrees from LeningradShipbuilding Institute and St. Petersburg State University of Economics andFinance as well as the MBA from International Banking Institute Seppo Juha Remes Seppo Juha Remes, 52, is a highly experienced businessman, a President of KiuruPartners LLC consultancy company and brings extensive business and marketknowledge to the Board of LSR. He had an extensive career at NESTE, serving 8years as a vice-president of NESTE (FORTUM) in Russia. In 2001 he was appointedas a CEO of Vostok Energo Investment Ldt and in 2003 becoming a Director ofVostok Nafta Investment Ltd. From 2004 to 2006 Mr. Remes held a position ofSenior Advisor to SITRA (Strategic Development Fund under the Parliament of theRepublic of Finland). Mr.Remes is a Board member of a number of leading Russian companies such us OAOOMZ, Severstal-Auto, OAO SIBUR, OAO Kirovsky Zavod and participates in the workof the Association for the Protection of the Rights of Investors (EOS Russia)and Ponsse Oyj (Finnish public quoted company, logging machinery). He graduated from Oulu University in 1984 in Economics (Turku School ofEconomics and Business Administration, 1994). Seppo Remes is an Honorary Doctorof Plekhanov Russian Academy of Economics (1997) and Tashkent State EconomicUniversity, Uzbekistan (1999). OJSC LSR Group is a diversified construction company founded in 1993 andoperating in a number of complementary market segments. Its core business areasare building materials, construction and real estate development. The Groupincludes enterprises for extraction and processing of aggregates, productionand transportation of building materials, and housing construction - from massmarket large-panel housing to elite residential property built after designsmade by leading domestic and foreign architects. LSR Group has operations and offices in a number of cities in the LeningradOblast, in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia,Ukraine and Germany. LSR Group employs over 15,000 people. In 2004, 2005 and 2006 the revenues of LSR Group were RUB 7,530.9 million, RUB13,085.5 million, and RUB 21,110.8 million respectively. For the six months of2007 the Group's revenues amounted to RUB 16,062.0 million compared toRUB 9,336.4 million for the same period last year. In November 2007, OJSC LSRGroup implemented an IPO. In December 2007, LSR Group was bestowed a NationalAward in the field of business as 'The Company of the Year' in the 'Construction' category. For more details please contact: Press Service, LSR Group+7 (812) 314-1044press@lsrgroup.ruwww.lsrgroup.ru Legal disclaimer: NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES,AUSTRALIA, CANADA OR JAPAN Some of the information in these materials may contain projections or otherforward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financialperformance of the Company. You can identify forward looking statements by termssuch as "expect", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "intend", "will","could," "may" or "might" the negative of such terms or other similarexpressions. The Company wishes to caution you that these statements are onlypredictions and that actual events or results may differ materially. TheCompany does not intend to update these statements to reflect events andcircumstances occurring after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence ofunanticipated events. Many factors could cause the actual results to differmaterially from those contained in projections or forward-looking statements ofthe Company, including, among others, general economic conditions, thecompetitive environment, risks associated with operating in Russia, rapidtechnological and market change in the industries the Company operates in, aswell as many other risks specifically related to the Company and its operations. Neither these materials nor any copy of it may be taken or transmitted into theUnited States, Australia, Canada or Japan. These materials do not constitute orform part of any offer or invitation to sell, or any solicitation of any offerto purchase nor shall it (or any part of it) or the fact of its distribution,form the basis of, or be relied on in connection with, any contract therefor.The offer and the distribution of these materials and other information inconnection with the listing and offer in certain jurisdictions may be restrictedby law and persons into whose possession any document or other informationreferred to herein comes should inform themselves about and observe any suchrestriction. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute aviolation of the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. These materials are not an offer for sale of any securities in the UnitedStates. Securities may not be offered or sold in the United States absentregistration or an exemption from registration under the U.S. Securities Act of1933. The Company has not registered and does not intend to register anyportion of any offering in the United States or to conduct a public offering ofany securities in the United States. This communication is directed only at (i) persons who are outside the UnitedKingdom or (ii) persons who have professional experience in matters relating toinvestments falling within Article 19(1) of the Financial Services and MarketsAct 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the "Order") and (iii) high net worthentities, and other persons to whom it may lawfully be communicated, fallingwithin Article 49(2) of the Order (all such persons together being referred toas "relevant persons"). Any investment activity to which this communicationrelates will only be available to and will only be engaged with, relevantpersons. Any person who is not a relevant person should not act or rely on thisdocument or any of its contents. This communication is distributed in any member state of the European EconomicArea which applies Directive 2000/71/EC (this Directive together with anyimplementing measures in any member state, the "Prospectus Directive") only tothose persons who are investment professionals for the purposes of theProspectus Directive in such member state, and such other persons as thisdocument may be addressed on legal grounds, and no person that is not a relevantperson may act or rely on this document or any of its contents. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange