The Board of Panmure Gordon & Co is pleased to announce that the investment in the Company by QInvest, announced on 21 May 2009, has now received the required regulatory clearances and will complete tomorrow morning when the shares subscribed by QInvest are admitted to AIM.
Key highlights
- QInvest, the largest investment bank in Qatar, will on completion hold a 47.1% stake in the Company’s undiluted share capital.
- The placing raised approximately £23m and will provide Panmure Gordon with the financial strength and headroom to take advantage of market opportunities as they arise.
- Four senior QInvest executives, Shahzad Shahbaz, Rommie Bhutani, Asar Mashkoor and Nader Shenouda, will join the Board and further strengthen it with their global investment banking experience and Middle East regional knowledge.
Tim Linacre, Panmure Gordon chief executive, commented: “Since the announcement of the proposed investment I have had the opportunity to work with QInvest’s management to identify areas where we can work together for the benefit of our clients and our shareholders. It is clear to me that there will be many shared opportunities. The next months will be spent in developing and implementing plans to leverage the relationship.”
Shahzad Shahbaz, QInvest chief executive, said: “I am delighted that the transaction will now complete. I and my colleagues look forward to working with the management and Board of Panmure Gordon to develop the opportunities open to us in Panmure Gordon’s core markets and more broadly in the Gulf. There is a lot of work to be done to realise these opportunities, but I am convinced that the potential rewards will be very attractive.”
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QInvest LLC has subscribed for 67,514,813 ordinary shares in the Company, representing 47.1% of the Company’s enlarged share capital, at a price of 34p per share. Application has been made to the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange for the admission to trading of 67,514,813 shares, which will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing share capital of the Company. The shares will be admitted to trading on 7 August 2009.
The Company’s issued share capital will, following completion, consist of 146,857,183 ordinary shares of 4p each, with each share carrying the right to one vote. Of this number, 3,470,531 ordinary shares will at completion be held in treasury, therefore the total number of voting rights in the Company will at completion be 143,386,652.
Shahzad Shahbaz, Rommie Bhutani, Asar Mashkoor and Nader Shenouda have all been appointed to the Board as non-executive directors with effect from completion.
Shahzad Shahbaz, aged 49, is Chief Executive Officer of QInvest. He has close to 30 years banking experience, including 13 years in London with Bank of America, at first heading up the emerging markets business, and then as head of the regional investment banking platform for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He spent two years as Chief Executive Officer of Emirates-NBD investment bank, successfully setting up and building a regional investment banking, asset management and private equity business with approximately 100 employees. Shahzad holds a BA in Economics from Oberlin College, Ohio, USA. He was previously a director of NBD Investment Bank and a director of Emirates Investment Services.
Rommie Bhutani, aged 41, is the Co-Head of Principal Investments at QInvest. He has accumulated approximately 18 years of hedge fund, investment banking and finance experience. Prior to joining QInvest, Rommie co-founded and served as CIO of the Brevan Howard India Special Opportunities Fund. He previously founded and served as Co-Head and Managing Director of the leveraged finance and sponsor coverage businesses at Bank of America for Europe, the Middle East and Africa and served on various committees including the EMEA Global Markets Management Committee. Rommie holds an MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University in Canada and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. Rommie is currently a director of BHI Investment Management Limited and BHI Holdings Limited (Jersey). Both of these entities are part of the Brevan Howard group.
Asar Mashkoor, aged 36, is the Head of Financing & Advisory at QInvest. He has 16 years of investment banking and finance experience, including 7 years at Merrill Lynch in London. Asar joined QInvest from Emirates-NBD investment bank where he was Co-Head of Capital Markets, Structured Finance and Advisory. He is a qualified chartered accountant (ICAEW) and holds an Honours degree in Information Systems Engineering from Imperial College (University of London). Asar is currently a director of Subway South East Limited.
Nader Shenouda, aged 43, is the Head of Placement & Distribution at QInvest. He has 18 years of client relationship management experience in the MENA region, joining QInvest from Coutts & Co in the UK where, as Executive Vice President based in London, he led the Middle East Wealth Management team. Prior to joining Coutts, Nader was a Financial Consultant with Merrill Lynch International based in London where he focused on ultra high net worth families, family offices and institutional clients in the Middle East. He holds a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from the American University in Cairo and studied Investment Management at London Business School.
Save as set out above, there is no further information regarding these appointments to be disclosed in respect of the AIM Rules.