New blood for OPP board

Press, 23 November 1988, Page 43

New blood for OPP board

Directors and executives of Prodigal Gold and Como Holdings (in receivership) have been appointed to the board of Otago Press and Produce (OPP), the New Zealand gold mining firm.

The future of OPP was in doubt last week .after news that two of its directors and its company secretary had resigned. This left just one director, a breach of Stock Exchange listing regulations which require three members.

OPP is also in breach of the requirements because it has not produced an annual report within six months of its March 31 balance date and has not filed a quarterly mining report to September 30. Mr Bruce Smith, the chairman of Como, a Hokitika investment company that specialises in restructuring, and Prodigal Gold, has been appointed a director. Mr Brian Boustridge, chief executive of Prodigal, and Mr Norman Davidson, a director of Premier Mining Securities, have also been appointed directors. Mrs Linda Patterson becomes OPP’s company secretary. She is the company secretary for both Como and Premier.

OPP has been hit by the failure of HRD Investments, a family company owned by OPP’s chief executive, Mr Alan Brown, of Nevada, to buy out Khansay Enterprise’s 47 per cent stake in OPP. The deal was meant to

have been completed in February, giving HRD 78% of OPP.Earlier this year Khansay obtained an interim court injunction preventing the OPP directors from selling company interests without shareholder approval. In a statement yesterday, Mr Brown said he would resign as chief executive so that there was a fresh approach and a more direct management of the company’s affairs.

The changes would bring a third party which had experience in gold mining and would help resolve the impasse which had hampered the company’s progress this year. Mr Brown said that the new directors had assured him that they would be furnishing a mining report to September 30 and also an annual report. The recent deteriora-

tion in the company’s financial position had hindered these matters, he said.

Westland Minerals, the company’s New Zealand gold mining subsidiary, would continue operating at its “valuable mining tenements” at Lake lanthe, South Westland.

Mr Brown said he would offer his services to the new board as an adviser.

Mr Smith said in a statement that the new directors could not say whether they could avert OPP going into liquidation.

The new directors had intervened because it was considered worth trying to save OPP. “The new directors of OPP are under no illusions, however, about the complexity of OPP’s affairs and the present very bleak outlook it faced of suspension from Exchange trading and ultimate liquidation.” The immediate concern was OPP’s financial position. The new directors would be consulting the company’s debtors and creditors, he said. “It is premature to draw any conclusions from our new involvement as to the future of either OPP, or any of its subsidiaries in New Zealand or the United States.”