PIRAEUS, Greece, July 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- NewLead
Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ: NEWL) ("NewLead" or the "Company") announced
today that on June 23, 2014, in
arbitration proceedings currently pending between the Company and
Ironridge Global IV, Ltd. ("Ironridge"), the Company filed claims
against Ironridge for breach of contract, fraudulent inducement of
contract and fraud, securities market manipulation and
misrepresentation in violation of United
States federal securities laws, unjust enrichment, and
violation of 15 U.S.C. 78p(b), seeking disgorgement of short-swing
profits, damages in excess of $25
million, punitive damages in excess of $100 million, and reimbursement of legal costs
and the costs of the arbitration. NewLead has also requested that
the arbitration tribunal declare that the agreement between NewLead
and Ironridge is terminated and/or void ab initio, and that
Ironridge has no entitlement to the issuance of additional common
shares of NewLead.
Although the Company has continually indicated it has no desire
to receive or intent to accept any further funding from Ironridge,
until and subject to the resolution of the arbitration, Ironridge
has unilaterally waived conditions under their notes, which notes
were not due without such waiver, to attempt to force the Company
to receive funding under the transaction documents, which funding
has been returned by the Company. As Ironridge's forced funding was
not pursuant to any obligations it has under the transaction
documents, the Company believes it is an attempt to be able to
convert further preferred shares, while continuing to abuse the
irrevocable instruction letter in order to immediately sell, as
many common shares as possible. To this end, and notwithstanding
the foregoing, following the forced funding, Ironridge immediately
converted a portion of the preferred shares corresponding to the
note it force funded and requested common shares, despite having
the returned funds and the existence of the arbitration.
These actions, together with Ironridge's request for substantial
numbers of additional common shares on an almost daily basis, do
not support Ironridge's representations to the Company at the
outset of its investment that it wished to be a "long-term"
investor. Ironridge continues to sell substantial numbers of common
shares of the Company on a daily basis, to the detriment of the
Company and all of its stockholders. In this regard, Ironridge has
already requested and/or received an aggregate of approximately 62
million common shares (through July 6,
2014, adjusted to give effect to the 1-for-50 reverse stock
split, effective May 15, 2014) and
has received approximately $22.8
million of proceeds (based upon information received from
Ironridge) on the sale, in the Company's belief, of approximately
44 million of such common shares through June 30, 2014. These amounts include
approximately 4.7 million common shares of Ironridge's recent
conversion of further preferred shares pursuant to the forced
funding as outlined above. The balance of the share amount,
approximately 57.3 million common shares requested and/or received,
are the result of the conversions of the preferred shares it
received at closing, which conversions are continuing under such
initially received preferred shares when it advanced proceeds of
$2.5 million and received preferred
shares in lieu of a fee.
About NewLead Holdings Ltd.
NewLead Holdings Ltd. is
an international, vertically integrated shipping, logistics and
commodity company. NewLead owns three dry bulk vessels, one
Handysize vessel and two Panamax vessels and manages three third
party tanker vessels, two small bitumen tanker vessels and one
Handysize MR product tanker. The Company took delivery of one of
the three modern eco-type dry bulk Handysize vessels, the Newlead
Albion on May 19, 2014 and expects to
take delivery of the other two, one of which is newbuilding,
between July and August 2014. The
Company has also signed a term sheet for 75% financing to acquire
two dry bulk Panamax vessels. Upon completion of the above
acquisitions and together with the vessels under management.
NewLead is expected to have a fleet of ten vessels, seven owned and
three vessels under management. Furthermore, the Company owns a
wash plant and a mine in Kentucky,
USA and has been granted access to develop and mine another
mine, that includes a CSX rail load facility, the Andy Rail
Terminal, in Kentucky, USA.
NewLead's common shares are traded under the symbol "NEWL" on the
NASDAQ Global Select Market. To learn more about NewLead Holdings
Ltd., please visit the new website at
www.newleadholdings.com.
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995
This press release includes
assumptions, expectations, projections, intentions and beliefs
about future events. These statements, as well as words such as
"anticipate," "estimate," "project," "plan," and "expect," are
intended to be ''forward-looking" statements. We caution that
assumptions, expectations, projections, intentions and beliefs
about future events may vary from actual results and the
differences can be material. Forward-looking statements include,
but are not limited to, such matters as the creditworthiness of our
counterparties, the reliability of reserve reports, our ability to
extract or acquire coal to fulfill contracts, the consummation of
conditional contracts, future operating or financial results; our
liquidity position and cash flows, our ability to borrow additional
amounts under our revolving credit facility and, if needed, to
obtain waivers from our lenders and restructure our debt, and our
ability to continue as a going concern; statements about planned,
pending or recent vessel disposals and/or acquisitions, business
strategy, future dividend payments and expected capital spending or
operating expenses, including dry-docking and insurance costs;
statements about trends in the product tanker and dry bulk vessel
shipping segments, including charter rates and factors affecting
supply and demand; expectations regarding the availability of
vessel acquisitions; completion of repairs; length of off-hire;
availability of charters; and anticipated developments with respect
to any pending litigation. The forward-looking statements in this
press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are
based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without
limitation, management's examination of historical operating
trends, data contained in our records and other data available from
third parties. Although NewLead believes that these assumptions
were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently
subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are
difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control,
NewLead cannot assure you that it will achieve or accomplish these
expectations, beliefs or projections described in the forward
looking statements. Important factors that, in our view, could
cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in
the forward-looking statements include the strength of world
economies and currencies, general market conditions, including
changes in charter rates and vessel values, failure of a seller to
deliver one or more vessels, and other factors discussed in
NewLead's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
from time to time. NewLead expressly disclaims any obligations or
undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any
forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change
in NewLead's expectations with respect thereto or any change in
events, conditions or circumstances on which any statement is
based.
Investor and Media Relations:
Elisa Gerouki
NewLead Holdings
Ltd.
Telephone: + 30 213 014 8023
Email: egerouki@newleadholdings.com
SOURCE NewLead Holdings Ltd.