NEW YORK, April 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --SpringOwl Gibraltar Partners B Ltd (together with its affiliates, "SpringOwl"), the owner of 42,850,000 shares of bwin.party digital entertainment plc (LSE: BPTY), representing approximately 5.25% of BPTY's issued ordinary shares, announced today that it intends to propose for election four new independent Directors to the Board of BPTY at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting of BPTY. It is not currently intended that these new Directors would replace any existing Director of BPTY. The proposed new Directors have significant experience in online gaming, technology and the US banking system.
"SpringOwl has made numerous attempts to work with the incumbent Board of BPTY to facilitate a reconstitution of the Board to ensure accountability to shareholders. Unfortunately, the incumbent Board has chosen to seek to maintain the status quo. We believe shareholders have become disillusioned by ongoing declines in business metrics as the Board approves incremental equity grants," said Jason N. Ader, Chief Investment Officer of SpringOwl.
"We are seeking to add four highly qualified candidates to the Board who are committed to i) restoring an alignment between the actions of the Board and the BPTY shareholders, ii) adopting best practices of corporate governance and iii) working with Management to pursue any and all alternatives available to maximize long-term shareholder value," he continued.
The proposed new Directors, who are accomplished in their respective fields with a diverse set of experience necessary to effect meaningful change, are:
- Michael B. Fertik
Michael Fertik is the CEO, Chairman, and Founder of Reputation.com. He has been namedEntrepreneur of the Year by TechAmerica, World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer and a member of the WEF's Global Agenda Council on the Future of the Internet. Mr. Fertik is the named inventor on multiple patents in the fields of technology and data science. He is the author of the bestselling book Wild West 2.0 (AMACOM 2010) as well as the upcoming Reputation Economy (Crown 2015). He is a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Inc., Scientific American, Bloomberg, CNBC, BBC and the LinkedIn Influencer blog on topics including entrepreneurship, technology, innovation, data-driven leadership and Silicon Valley. - Francis X. Grady
Mr. Grady is the founder of Grady & Associates (founded in 1994), a boutique law firm devoted to the representation of banks throughout the United States. Mr. Grady provides bank regulatory, corporate and securities law representation to banking organizations in matters involving bank supervision, payment and credit card processing, bank regulatory enforcement actions, executive compensation and shareholder relations. Prior to founding Grady & Associates, Mr. Grady held positions with the law firms Seeley, Savidge & Aussem; Hahn, Loeser & Parks and Muldoon, Murphy & Faucette. Mr. Grady began his career in the Honors Attorney Program at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in Washington, DC, where he worked from 1984 to 1986. - Kalendu Patel
Kal Patel is a private venture capital investor and advisor to emerging disruptive technology companies. From 2012 to 2013, Mr. Patel was Executive Vice President and a Member of Executive Committee of LRN Inc., with responsibility for global strategy and operations. From 2011 to 2012, Mr. Patel was a London-based Partner and Senior Advisor of VantagePoint Capital Partners, a venture capital firm focused on Energy/Resource Innovation, Information Technology and Healthcare, where he led the firm's global strategic partner initiative. From 2003 to 2011, Mr. Patel was a senior executive at Best Buy Co., Inc., where he rose to become Chief Strategy Officer and President and Chief Executive Officer of Best Buy Asia as well as running the Company's Best Buy Venture Capital Fund. Prior to Best Buy, Mr. Patel served as a Senior Partner at Strategos Inc, CA,strategy innovation consulting firm. Prior to Strategos, Kal worked at KPMG Consulting, where he co-founded and led the Business Transformation Practice. Mr. Patel was born in Kenya and raised in Zambia and the United Kingdom. - Steven M. Rittvo
Steven Rittvo is the founder of The Innovation Group of Companies and has served as the Chief Executive Officer of a number of the individual component companies since the founding in 1999. The Innovation Group is an integrated service organization focused on the terrestrial and online casino and gaming industry. Its clients, in over 65 countries, include Nationaland State Governments, publicly and privately owned casino and gaming operators and equipment providers and leading financial institutions. The services provided by The Innovation Group of Companies include project feasibility studies, financial analysis, development of marketing plans, restructurings and reorganizations, operational and situational audits, financing and M&A advisory. Mr. Rittvo has been identified by Global Gaming Magazine as "One of the 10 Most Influential People in Gaming." An acknowledged thought leader in online gaming, Mr. Rittvo founded iGaming North America, the first major US-centric Internet Gaming conference. Mr. Rittvo also produced and published the first comprehensive, nationwide survey of internet gamers in the United States. He is a frequent expert witness on gaming-related issues and has testified before numerous legislative and licensing bodies on bothstate and national levels. Mr. Rittvo previously served as a Director of Gametech Corporation.
ABOUT SPRINGOWL GIBRALTAR PARTNERS B LTD
SpringOwl Gibraltar Partners B Ltd., the ("Fund"), is a Cayman Islands exempted company formed December 18, 2013. SpringOwl Associates LLC (the "Investment Manager"), a New York limited liability company which is the Investment Manager to the Fund, commenced operations in 1970, under the name of Cumberland Associates, and is wholly owned and controlled by SpringOwl Asset Management LLC ("SpringOwl"), a Delaware limited liability company founded in 2013. The principal owners of SpringOwl are Jason N. Ader and Andrew M. Wallach.
SOURCE SpringOwl Asset Management LLC
