Former Sibneft chief Shvidler assumes chairmanship of Highland Gold board of directors
MOSCOW. May 2 (Interfax) - Yevgeny Shvidler, a co-owner of Millhouse and partner of Roman Abramovich, has assumed the chairmanship of the board of directors at Highland Gold Mining (HGM), which is developing gold-ore deposits in Russia, a company statement says.
Shvidler, who headed Sibneft from 1998 until it was sold to Gazprom in 2005, joined the Highland board in 2008. Previous board chairman Duncan Baxter remained on the board.
At the end of last month, Canada's Barrick Gold Corporation sold out of Highland Gold, selling 20.37% to institutional investors for 79.5 million pounds sterling.
HGM produced 184,100 ounces of gold equivalent for 2011 and posted $157.1 million in EBITDA with net profit at $103.8 million. The company's funds and their equivalent in accounts came to 126.7 million at the end of last year. The company plans to produce 200,000-215,000 ounces of gold equivalent.
HGM is registered in Britain and produces gold in Russia. The company's main projects are located in the Khabarovsk Territory (Mnogovershinnoye, Belaya Gora and Blagodatnoye) and Trans-Baikal (Novoshirokinskoye, Lyubavinskoye and Taseyevskoye), as well as Kyrgyzstan (Unkurtash). The company's shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange's AIM section.
The main shareholder in HGM is Millhouse, which represents the interests of Abramovich and his partners (through Primerod International Ltd it controls 32.6%). Members of the company's board and its management (mainly Shvidler) own 8%. The share of the remaining shareholders after Barrick's departure comes to 39% including the interest held by Tremadon Ventures (this company is affiliated with Alexander Abramov and Alexander Frolov).