21 Jul 2009 12:40
21 July 2009
Speymill Macau Property Company plc
("Speymill Macau" or the "Company")
Result of EGM
Speymill Macau Property Company plc (AIM:MCAU), the Macau focused property investment company quoted on AIM, announces that, at the extraordinary general meeting held earlier today ("the EGM") requisitioned by Worldwide Opportunities Fund (Cayman) Ltd ("Worldwide"), all resolutions were passed.
As a result, Larry Kearns, Peter Churchouse, Swen Lorenz, Ken Deayton and Jerry Linehan have been removed from the board of directors with immediate effect.
Further, Howard Golden, Filip Montfort and Yarden Mariuma have been appointed as non-executive directors of the Company with immediate effect. Howard Golden will act as non-executive chairman of the board until such time as an independent non-executive chairman is appointed. It is intended that at least two directors who are independent of Worldwide will be appointed to the board in due course.
Worldwide is interested in 25,800,000 ordinary shares in the Company, representing 22.08 per cent. of the issued share capital. Howard Golden, Filip Montfort and Yarden Mariuma are the sole directors of Worldwide and its manager, Terra Partners Group. In addition, they have a minority interest in the share capital of Worldwide which results in an aggregate, indirect beneficial interest of less that 1 per cent. in Speymill Macau's issued share capital.
The information required to be notified pursuant to paragraph (g) of Schedule 2 of the AIM Rules for Companies in relation to each of the newly appointed directors is set out, below. The are no further disclosures required.
Howard Golden
Howard Ira Golden (aged 63), a United States citizen, is Chairman of Worldwide and a principal of Terra Partners Group ("Terra") the investment manager of Worldwide. Mr Golden began practicing law in 1972, has been investing in stock markets since 1977 and has specialised in global investing since 1991. Mr Golden has lectured on closed-end funds in London and Prague and at various business schools, and has been quoted as an expert in Transition Capital Markets and corporate governance in newspapers and magazines.
Mr Golden currently serves as the chairman of the board of directors of The Romanian Investment Fund, AGNI Systems Ltd., a Bangladesh internet service provider listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange, and Reconstruction Capital II, an AIM listed investment fund concentrating on Romania and Bulgaria. He also serves on the boards of Vietnam Equity Holding and Vietnam Property Holding, two closed-end funds trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. He was previously chairman of the board of the Romanian Growth Fund, a Cayman Island domiciled investment fund listed on the Dublin Stock Exchange and served on the board of directors of Framlington Bulgarian Fund until the fund's voluntary dissolution. His tenure on these boards was a result of his activist policy, which involves close and direct supervision of large investments. Mr Golden has a BA. in Economics, an MBA in International Marketing and a Juris Doctorate, all from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
| Current directorships/partnerships | Former directorships/partnerships |
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| Agni Systems Ltd. | Austin Eco Holding Limited |
| Arch Holding (BVI) Limited | Framlington Bulgaria Fund |
| Eco Pavilion Holdings Limited | Kazakstan Investment Fund |
| Gulshan Holdings Limited |
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| Herma Investments Co. Limited |
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| Kensington Acquisitions Ltd |
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| Krumlov Estates Limited |
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| Locket and Keenan Investments Ltd |
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| Nollywood Holdings Limited |
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| Nuvision Holdings Ltd. |
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| Princess Drive Development Ltd. |
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| Reconstruction Capital II Limited |
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| Rioja Holdings Limited |
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| Romanian Investment Fund |
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| Spenser Colby Investments Ltd. |
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| Sunniva Investments Limited |
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| Terra Bangladesh Fund Ltd. |
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| Terra Partners (Cyprus) Limited |
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| Terra Partners Group |
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| Terra Partners, LTD |
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| Vietnam Equity Holdings |
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| Vietnam Property Holdings |
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| Worldwide Opportunity Fund (Cayman) Ltd |
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| Zidane Holdings Limited |
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| Zimbabwe Opportunity Fund Ltd. |
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| ZIMCAPITAL Limited |
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| ZIMFINANCE LTD |
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| ZIMINVEST Limited |
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Yarden Mariuma
Yarden (Jordan) Mariuma (aged 37), a United States citizen, is a principal and the chief investment officer of Terra. He has been in the investment business since 1992 when he was a compliance manager and broker in a boutique Wall Street firm managing proprietary funds in cross-exchange hedging transactions. He then operated a private merchant banking and freelance analytical firm performing private equity analysis for funds. He has acted as the lead analyst or originator in over US$60 million in investments in every field of business, mainly on the NASDAQ market and was the local office for various Chinese companies listed, or interested in becoming listed, on United States exchanges.
From 1998 until joining Terra in 2002, Mr Mariuma worked for The Quadrant Group in New York City and Bucharest as the country manager for Romania and was Chairman of the board of a Romanian forging company and served for three years on the board of directors of one of the largest investment funds in Romania, which is listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
At Terra he supervises all analysts and makes the final purchase and sale decisions for investments and set up branch offices for Worldwide in Harare, Zimbabwe, and Dhaka, Bangladesh. The portfolio he manages at Worldwide is a complex mixture of African, Latin American and Asian stocks, focusing on Mozambique, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Malawi and Bangladesh.
As part of Worldwide's activist approach to supervising its investments he serves as a board member and chairman of the Marketing Committee Rainbow Tourism Group, the largest hotel company in Zimbabwe and is a board member of AGNI ISP, Bangladesh's largest internet service provider.
Mr Mariuma has a BA and is a CFA Charterholder.
| Current directorships/partnerships | Former directorships/partnerships |
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| Agni Systems Ltd. | Framlington Bulgaria Fund |
| Gulshan Holdings Limited |
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| Herma Investments Co. Limited |
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| Kensington Acquisitions Ltd |
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| Krumlov Estates Limited |
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| Locket and Keenan Investments Ltd |
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| Nollywood Holdings Limited |
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| Princess Drive Development Ltd. |
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| Rainbow Tourism Group |
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| Rioja Holdings Limited |
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| Spenser Colby Investments Ltd. |
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| Sunniva Investments Limited |
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| Terra Bangladesh Fund Ltd. |
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| Terra Partners (Cyprus) Limited |
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| Terra Partners Group |
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| Worldwide Opportunity Fund (Cayman) Ltd |
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| Zidane Holdings Limited |
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| Zimbabwe Opportunity Fund Ltd. |
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| ZIMCAPITAL Limited |
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| ZIMFINANCE LTD |
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Filip Montfort
Filip Montfort (aged 36), a Czech citizen, is a chief operating officer of Terra and the managing director of Terra Partners s.r.o, the Czech Administrator of Worldwide. He has been involved in business and investing since 1998 and prior to joining Terra in 2003 he was the chief legal and economic advisor of the Euro-Czech Forum, a joint institution of the Chambers of Commerce of Britain, France, Germany, Netherlands and Sweden. From 1999 to 2001, he served as the legal and political advisor to the Delegation of the European Commission to the Czech Republic.
Mr Montfort currently serves as a director of Worldwide, Terra Bangladesh Funds, AGNI Systems Ltd., a largest Bangladesh internet service provider listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange and as an alternate director of Rainbow Tourism Group, the largest hotel company in Zimbabwe. Mr. Montfort previously served as a director of Beta Vietnam Fund, closed-end fund listed on the Dublin Stock Exchange and Belograd Electro, the largest Serbian electric trading company listed on Beograd stock exchange, which Worldwide acquired as part of its portfolio.
As an expert in the area of "Doing Business in Central and Eastern Europe", Mr Montfort has lectured for various MBA programmes on Central Eastern Europe in connection with their EU accession and has participated as a speaker in International and Czech business and legal conferences.
Mr Montfort has a Master in Business Administration, with distinction from DePaul University in Chicago, a Master's degree in Law from Charles University in Prague and a Bachelor of Arts from the Faculty of International Relations of the University of Economics, Prague.
| Current directorships/partnerships | Former directorships/partnerships |
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| Agni Systems Ltd. | Austin Eco Holding Limited |
| Arch Holding (BVI) Limited | Beogradelektro a.d. |
| Eco Pavilion Holdings Limited |
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| Gulshan Holdings Limited |
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| Herma Investments Co. Limited |
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| Kensington Acquisitions Ltd |
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| Kilnsea Investments (PVT) Ltd. |
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| Krumlov Estates Limited |
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| Locket and Keenan Investments Ltd |
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| Nollywood Holdings Limited |
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| Nuvision Holdings Ltd. |
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| Princess Drive Development Ltd. |
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| Rainbow Tourism Group (alternate director) |
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| Rioja Holdings Limited |
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| Spenser Colby Investments Ltd. |
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| Sunniva Investments Limited |
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| Terra Bangladesh Fund Ltd. |
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| Terra Partners (Cyprus) Limited |
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| Terra Partners Group |
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| Terra Partners s.r.o. |
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| Worldwide Opportunity Fund (Cayman) Ltd |
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| Zidane Holdings Limited |
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| Zimbabwe Opportunity Fund Ltd. |
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| ZIMCAPITAL Limited |
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| ZIMFINANCE LTD |
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| ZIMINVEST Limited |
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For further information please visit www.speymillmacau.com or contact:
| Speymill Property Group Limited (Manager) | Speymill Property Group (Far East) Limited (Investment Adviser) |
| Nigel Caine, CFO Funds | Thomas Sipos |
| Nick Harris, Manager | +852 2514 6104 |
| +44 1624 640 860 |
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| Smith & Williamson Corporate Finance Limited (Nominated Adviser) | Fairfax I.S. PLC (Brokers) |
| Azhic Basirov | James King |
| Siobhan Sergeant | Andrew Cox |
| +44 20 7131 4000 | +44 20 7598 5368 |
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| Tavistock Communications Limited (Media & Investor Relations) | |
| Jeremy Carey |
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| Simon Hudson |
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| Gemma Bradley |
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| +44 20 7920 3150 |
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Notes to editors:
Speymill Macau Property Company plc ("Speymill Macau" or the "Company")
Speymill Macau was incorporated and registered in the Isle of Man on 31 October 2006 and is a closed-end investment company registered in the Isle of Man and traded on AIM, a market of the London Stock Exchange.
The Company was established to invest primarily in the Macau property market. This includes pursuing selective commercial property investments to capture expected ancillary Macau service sector growth. The Company was admitted to AIM on 17 November 2006 raising US$ 80 million in a placing on admission. A second fundraising of US$ 70 million was completed in May 2007. The Company's objective is to provide shareholders with an attractive overall return to be achieved primarily through long-term capital growth.
Macau is one of only two Special Economic Regions, a semi-autonomous administrative area, in China, and has enjoyed explosive economic growth, in part due to its establishment as an important gambling centre which has led to high historical and forecast GDP growth, driven by rising incomes and low unemployment levels. Coupled with the limited availability of land, developers are now struggling to meet a stronger than anticipated demand for higher quality housing. The Company intends to exploit these favourable market dynamics with the aim of generating attractive overall returns for shareholders.
Speymill Property Group Limited ("SPG") is the Manager of the Company and the Investment Adviser is Speymill Property Group (Far East) Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of SPG.