Board Changes

RNS Number : 4217J

OPG Power Ventures plc

09 September 2016

 

9 September 2016

OPG Power Ventures Plc

("OPG", the "Group" or the "Company")

Board Changes

Following on from the Company's preliminary results announcement on 1 August 2016, OPG Power Ventures Plc (AIM: OPG), the developer and operator of power generation plants in India, is pleased to confirm the following board changes which will be effective from the forthcoming Annual Meeting of the Shareholders of the Company, to be held in October 2016, notice of which will be given in due course.

Having been Chairman of the Company for eight years, and having overseen the Company's growth from Admission to AIM to 750 MW of operating capacity, Mr MC Gupta has informed the Board of his intention to retire from the board at the annual general meeting of the Company.  At that time, Arvind Gupta, OPG's CEO, will assume the role of Executive Chairman.

On the same date, the Company will appoint Mr Jeremy Beeton (aged 63) as an Independent Non-Executive Director.  Mr Beeton has more than 40 years' international business experience including in Government, corporate, project management, construction and facilities management.  He is currently a Non-Executive Director of SSE plc, WYG plc and John Laing Group plc as well as being an Advisory Board member of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, a Director of Tanah Merah and Chairman of Merseylink Ltd.  He also sits on the governing Court of Strathclyde University.  Mr Beeton spent five years (2007-2012) as Director General of the UK Government Olympic Executive, where he was responsible for supervising the delivery of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.  Between 1999 and 2007 he was Principal Vice President and Director of Bechtel Ltd with responsibility for the management and delivery of Bechtel's worldwide civil engineering projects in its infrastructure and aviation business lines.

Arvind Gupta commented: "We have, with regret, accepted Mr M C Gupta's decision to step down from the Board as Chairman.  We will miss his wise counsel and leadership which contributed in significant measure to the Company's growth and development over the last eight years.  On behalf of the Company and the Board I would like to thank Mr Gupta for his immense contribution and wish him well for the future."

He added, "I look forward to welcoming Jeremy Beeton to the Board. His experience of large listed companies operating and building assets in emerging markets will no doubt be the source of much learning for us and will place us in good stead to achieve our vision of becoming a leader in India's power sector. "

Additional disclosures pursuant to Schedule 2 (g) of the AIM Rules:

Jeremy John Beeton, is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and is currently a director of:

SSE plc

WYG plc

John Laing Group plc

Tanah Merah Limited

Member of Advisory Board of Pricewaterhouse Coopers

Chairman Merseylink Ltd.

Member of Court of Strathclyde University

Jeremy Beeton was formerly:

Member of Macquarie (MIRA) Advisory Panel - 2012 to 2014 

Non-Executive Director, Arqiva - 2012 to 2014 

Non-Executive Director, GSR Energy - 2012 to 2014

Non-Executive Director, A Proctor Group Ltd- 1992 -2013

Member Supervisory Board Royal Imtech NV - 2014 to 2015

Jeremy Beeton was appointed to the supervisory board of Royal Imtech NV ("Imtech") in May 2014.  Following a fraud in Imtech's German subsidiary (occurring prior to Jeremy's appointment) together with subsequent negative media coverage, a downturn in many sectors of Imtech's business and unfavourable historic contracts, Imtech was unable to continue trading. The supervisory board appointed an administrator in August 2015, following which all of the members of the supervisory board stepped down, and many of the operating companies have since been sold and are now under new ownership.

For further information on the Company, please visit www.opgpower.com or contact:

OPG Power Ventures PLC Arvind Gupta / V Narayan Swami	[phone]
Investor Relations Ajay Paliwal/Pooja Maru	[phone]
Cenkos Securities (Nominated Adviser & Broker) Stephen Keys / Camilla Hume	[phone]
Macquarie Capital (Europe) Limited (Joint Broker) Raj Khatri / Nick Stamp	[phone]
Tavistock (Financial PR) Simon Hudson / James Collins	[phone]

About OPG

OPG operates and develops power generation related assets in India, principally under the group captive model, and currently has 750 MW of assets in operation with 62 MW solar under development.   In the year ended 31^st March 2016, according to its preliminary results, the Company generated revenues of approximately £128 million, Profit before tax of £28.6 million and earnings per share of 5.90 pence.

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