22nd Mar 2006 11:50
PartyGaming Plc22 March 2006 22 March 2006 PartyGaming Plc Mitchell A. Garber Appointed as Chief Executive Officer PartyGaming Plc, the world's leading online gaming company, is pleased toannounce the appointment of Mitchell A. Garber as Chief Executive Officer witheffect from 19 April 2006. Mr Garber succeeds Richard Segal, who will helpoversee an orderly transition of his duties and then leave PartyGaming at thetime of the Group's Annual General Meeting on 4 May 2006. Mr Garber has 14 years of high-level operational experience in gaming, financialservices and technology businesses and in the running of listed companies on theLondon Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market (AIM), NASDAQ and theToronto Stock Exchange. He also has significant other public market experienceincluding mergers and acquisitions, public fund raisings and IPOs. Commenting on Mr Garber's appointment, Michael Jackson, Non-Executive Chairmanof PartyGaming, said: "The Board is delighted to have appointed Mitch, who has a strong andmulti-disciplined track record, to succeed Richard, who has establishedPartyGaming as the world leader in online gaming and as a FTSE 100 company. Hebrings a wealth of experience gained on both sides of the Atlantic that will beimportant in helping strengthen PartyGaming's position as a leading globalcompany in the online sector." Mr Garber said: "PartyGaming's achievements in its short life are amazing and on a par with thelikes of the other internet majors. The recent launch of the fully integrated,Party-branded platform together with PartyCasino.com, the new product pipelineand the plans to offer multi-lingual and multi-currency online poker are clearevidence of the energy, drive and aspirations that run throughout PartyGaming.This is a great business and I look forward to working with my new colleagues." Contacts: PartyGaming Plc +44 (0)20 7337 0100Peter Reynolds, Director of Investor RelationsJohn Shepherd, Director of Corporate Communications Financial Dynamics +44 (0)20 7831 3113Edward Bridges / Juliet Clarke Notes to Editors: Until earlier this month, Mr Garber was Executive Chairman of FireOne Group plc,a leading provider of payment processing services to the online gaming industry.FireOne was partly demerged from Optimal Group Inc. and floated on AIM in June2005. Mr Garber was simultaneously Executive Vice President of Optimal Group Inc., theNasdaq-listed payments processing and services company and owner of 76% ofFireOne. He was also President and CEO of Optimal Payments Inc., the largestsubsidiary of Optimal Group, which he built into a $5 billion payment processingbusiness in less than two years. Mr Garber oversaw the development of FireOne into a business that today hasapproximately 700,000 customers and provides services to more than 300 onlinegaming operators that run more than 1,500 websites. FireOne processes in excessof US$1 billion of transactions on an annualised basis. In the year ended 31December 2005, FireOne reported EBITDA growth of more than twice that of theprior year. Most recently, FireOne has been pursuing geographical expansion andnew product development that includes multi-lingual, multi-currency offerings toits customers. Prior to the IPO of FireOne, Mr Garber was President and CEO of Terra PaymentsInc., which was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. He oversaw the successfulmerger of Terra Payments with Optimal Group in April 2004. A graduate of McGill University in Montreal and of the University of Ottawa, MrGarber is a qualified attorney and from 1990 to 1999 developed the first gaminglaw practice in Canada whilst at Lazarus, Charbonneau, Attorneys, aMontreal-based law firm. He advised several leading US casino operators andequipment suppliers, including MGM Grand, Caesars, Hilton, and InternationalGame Technology. He has also advised governments on legislative and regulatoryframeworks, sits on the Editorial Board of the Gaming Law Review and is a memberof the International Association of Gaming Attorneys. Heidrick & Struggles, a global search firm, was instructed by PartyGaming toassist in the search for a new Chief Executive Officer. A number of potentialcandidates were identified and interviewed by a committee of the Board'sNon-Executive Directors. There is no further information in relation to Mitchell Garber required to bedisclosed pursuant to paragraph 9.6.13 of the Listing Rules. About PartyGaming Plc Founded in 1997, PartyGaming Plc is the world's leading online gaming companyand owns and operates PartyPoker, the world's largest online poker room as wellas EmpirePoker, MultiPoker, IntertopsPoker and PokerNOW. Other online gamingactivities include casino, principally through PartyCasino.com,StarluckCasino.com and also online bingo through PartyBingo.com. PartyGaming Plc is listed on The London Stock Exchange under the ticker: PRTY.In the year to 31 December 2005, the Group had revenues of $977.7m and generatedClean EBITDA of $583.7m and profit before tax of $324.9m. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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