Encorium Re-Appoints Dr. Kai Lindevall as Chief Executive Officer and Appoints Current Director, Shahab Fatheazam, Chairman of t
January 14 2010 - 8:30AM
PR Newswire (US)
Announces Results of Stockholder Voting at its Annual Meeting of
Stockholders held on January 8, 2010 BERWYN, Pa., Jan. 14
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Encorium Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENCO), a
full service multinational clinical research organization (CRO)
conducting studies in over 30 countries for many of the world's
leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, today announced
that it has re-appointed Dr. Kai Lindevall as Chief Executive
Officer. In addition, the Board of Directors has appointed Shahab
Fatheazam, a current director of the Company, as Chairman of the
Board of Directors. Dr. Lindevall had previously served as
Executive Chairman and President of Europe and Asia from July 2009
until present, Chief Executive Officer of the Company from February
2008 until September 2008 and as President, Europe and Asian
Operations from November 2006 until February 2008. Mr. Fatheazam
most recently served as Managing Director and head of the U.S.
healthcare practice of GCA Savvian, a leading international
investment banking advisory firm. Mr. Fatheazam joined GCA Savvian
in 2004 from Vector Securities, a premier healthcare specialty
firm, where he was a partner. Prior to helping to form Vector
Securities, he was co-head of Paine Webber's Lifescience Division.
He began his career on Wall Street with Kidder, Peabody & Co,
where, in 1980, he became a partner and senior executive in
Kidder's international corporate finance unit. Mr. Fatheazam holds
a BA and MA from Cambridge University in England and an MBA from
Columbia University. Mr. Fatheazam sits on the boards of two
biotechnology companies and is a Trustee at Chicago University's
Harris School. He is a member of the Economics Club in Chicago. On
the appointment of Mr. Fatheazam, Dr. Kai Lindevall commented,
"Since his appointment to the Board of Directors in November 2008,
Mr. Fatheazam has significantly contributed to the Board and the
execution of the Company's business and management. He has a long
and successful career in the health care and public company
environment and the Board is extremely pleased to have his
leadership in building stockholder value." Mr. Fatheazam stated,
"The ever changing world of pharmaceutical testing of future
therapeutics and the means of delivering them, make the CRO
industry very dynamic and interesting. Encorium has an
international experience which plays very well with the needs of
the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. It is my goal to always
improve and keep apace of the requirements necessary to be an
effective player in the field." The Company also announced today
the results of stockholder voting at its Annual Meeting of
Stockholders held on January 8, 2010. The Company reported that
approximately 70% percent of the outstanding shares were
represented either in person or by proxy at the meeting. Encorium
stockholders voted to elect all five nominees to the Board of
Directors, namely, Shahab Fatheazam, Sari Laitinen, Dr. Kai
Lindevall, Petri Manninen, and David Morra to serve until the next
annual meeting or until their successors are elected; ratified the
appointment of Asher & Company, Ltd. as the Company's
independent registered public accountants for the fiscal year
ending December 31, 2009; and approved the issuance of 874,126
shares of its common stock issuable under warrant exchange
agreements with two private investors, as well as any additional
shares underlying the exchange warrants that may be issuable as a
result of the anti-dilution provisions set forth in such
instruments. In addition, Encorium stockholders approved an
amendment to its Certificate of Incorporation, as amended, to
affect a reverse stock split of shares of the Company's common
stock issued and outstanding at a ratio to be established by our
Board of Directors in its discretion of up to one for 10 (but not
less than one for three). If the reverse split is affected by our
Board of Directors, we can not assure you that that we will be able
to comply with the other requirements for continued listing on
NASDAQ in order to maintain our listing on the NASDAQ Capital
Market. As previously disclosed, on August 25, 2009, the Company
received a letter from The NASDAQ Stock Market notifying the
Company that, based on its Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30,
2009, NASDAQ had determined that the Company's stockholders' equity
does not comply with the minimum $2.5 million stockholders' equity
requirement for continued listing on The NASDAQ Capital Market as
required by NASDAQ Marketplace Rule 5550(b)(1). On October 19, 2009
the Company received a letter from NASDAQ extending to December 8,
2009 the time to regain compliance with Rule 5550(b). NASDAQ will
continue to monitor the Company's ongoing compliance with the
stockholder's equity requirement and has informed that Company
that, if at the time of its next periodic report for the year
ending December 31, 2009 the Company does not evidence compliance,
the Company may be subject to delisting. Based on the Company's
preliminary results for the period ending December 31, 2009 the
Company does not believe it will satisfy this requirement. If the
Company does not, the Company may request a hearing before the
NASDAQ Listing Qualifications Panel. Such request would stay any
delisting determination by the NASDAQ Listing Qualifications Staff
and the Company's common stock would remain listed on NASDAQ
pending a formal determination by the Panel. About Encorium Group,
Inc. Encorium Group, Inc. is a global clinical research
organization specializing in the design and management of complex
clinical trials and Patient Registries for the pharmaceutical,
biotechnology and medical device industries. The Company's mission
is to provide its clients with high quality, full-service support
for their biopharmaceutical and medical device development
programs. Encorium offers therapeutic expertise, experienced team
management and advanced technologies. The Company has drug and
biologics development as well as clinical trial experience across a
wide variety of therapeutic areas such as infectious diseases,
cardiovascular, vaccines, oncology, diabetes
endocrinology/metabolism, gene therapy, immunology, neurology,
gastroenterology, dermatology, hepatology, women's health and
respiratory medicine. Encorium believes that its expertise in the
design of complex clinical trials, its therapeutic experience and
commitment to excellence, and its application of innovative
technologies, offer its clients a means to more quickly and cost
effectively move products through the clinical development process.
This press release contains forward-looking statements identified
by words such as "estimate," "project," "expect," "intend,"
"believe," "anticipate" and similar expressions. Those statements
involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ
materially from those discussed. Factors that could cause or
contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: (i)
the risk that we may not have sufficient funds to operate our
business; (ii) our success in attracting new business and retaining
existing clients and projects; (iii) the size, duration and timing
of clinical trials we are currently managing may change
unexpectedly; (iv) the termination, delay or cancellation of
clinical trials we are currently managing could cause revenues and
cash-on-hand to decline unexpectedly; (v) the timing difference
between our receipt of contract milestone or scheduled payments and
our incurring costs to manage these trials; (vi) outsourcing trends
in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries;
(vii) the ability to maintain profit margins in a competitive
marketplace; (viii) our ability to attract and retain qualified
personnel; (ix) the sensitivity of our business to general economic
conditions; (x) other economic, competitive, governmental and
technological factors affecting our operations, markets, products,
services and prices; (xi) announced awards received from existing
and potential customers are not definitive until fully negotiated
contracts are executed by the parties; (xii) our backlog may not be
indicative of future results and may not generate the revenues
expected; and (xiii) uncertainties regarding the availability of
additional capital; and (xiv) uncertainties regarding continued
listing of our common stock on NASDAQ. You should not place undue
reliance on any forward-looking statement. We undertake no
obligation to publicly release the result of any revision of these
forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after
the date they are made or to reflect the occurrence of
unanticipated events. Please refer to the section entitled "Risk
Factors" in the Company Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year
ended December 31, 2008 and the Company's Quarterly Report on Form
10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2009 for a more complete
discussion of factors which could cause our actual results and
financial position to change. DATASOURCE: Encorium Group, Inc.
CONTACT: Phil Calamia, +1-484-686-4759, for Encorium Group, Inc.
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