– UK, London – China Africa Resources plc (AIM:CAF) the natural resource exploration and development company, announces strategic board changes which the they believe will drive forward the growth and development of the Company.
David Linsley, formerly the Executive Director of Behre Dolbear, has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect;
Paul Johnson and Nick O’Reilly will step down from the Board with immediate effect however will continue to support the Company going forward, notably dealing with any transitional matters;
John Bryant and Rod Webster will remain as Directors of the Company in the roles of Non-Executive Director and Non-Executive Chairman, respectively;
Further senior appointments are expected to be made and announced in due course and expected to include team members with extensive exploration, development and mining experience across a diverse range of commodities including technical experience in copper operations and uranium mining, alongside M&A and corporate advisory;
The new Board hopes to provide the Company with:
- new resource project opportunities including more advanced and near or currently producing assets, complementing existing interests, and
- access to high quality capital for the future including institutions, hedge funds and family offices.
Rod Webster, Chairman, said, “I thank Paul and Nick for their work in successfully steering China Africa through the General Meeting in December, and into its Rule 15 Cash Shell status and now holding two investment interests in Botswanan Copper and USA Lithium.
The Company is well positioned for its next growth phase and as such has attracted the interest of a high profile management team who are eager to drive the company forward.
I welcome David as CEO and the Board looks forward to working with him and the new colleagues he is expected to be bring to the Company. The Board believe David and his potential team have the skills to move the Company forward through the sourcing of high quality assets and access to capital.”
David Linsley, Chief Executive Officer said, “I am delighted to assume the position of CEO at China Africa. I have been closely involved in the mineral sector for many years, a significant portion of which has been spent in fund management financing resource companies. I intend to leverage this strong network to bring some high calibre people to work with me at China Africa. I believe we will be able to access resource projects capable of delivering a significant return for investors’.
Through this network I will also seek to support our future work with a pool of high quality capital from well-regarded institutions, hedge funds and family offices known to myself and my team.
I am currently in the process of finalising the management team and in parallel pursuing negotiations over new resource opportunities which will fit with both the China Africa business model and our plans for the business. I intend to provide a report to shareholders outlining our plans in more detail in the coming weeks. I will of course make announcements to market should material events occur in the interim.”
About David Linsley
David Linsley is a former Executive Director of Behre Dolbear. Prior to his work with Behre Dolbear he was a co-founder of Northern Zinc, a group formed to acquire a near production zinc asset in upstate New York.
Mr Linsley founded Sirius Investment Management LLP in 2005, a Gibraltar based multi strategy fund management group specialising in fund of funds and hedge fund products. The most notable fund launched was the Sirius Resource Fund which invested in global mining and resource transactions.
Previously, Mr Linsley was a co-founder in 1998 and CEO of Cross Asset Management Ltd, a UK- based hedge fund management company which managed $500 million in assets across a number of strategies including Event Driven Equity and Credit. As a multi-strategy Europe-focused arbitrage firm Cross was involved in mergers, corporate restructurings, IPOs and private placements across Europe. In 2005 Cross Asset Management was sold to RAB Capital, a specialist asset manager focusing on natural resource and long/short equity investments.
Mr Linsley started his career at Lehman Brothers International in the prime brokerage and equity finance group, where he was involved with numerous hedge fund structures as an early participant in this London based community
Mr Linsley has developed strong relationships with institutional funds internationally, including in Europe and the US. In addition, Mr Linsley has been involved in numerous financings in the mining and resources sectors around the world and has sat on the boards of several mining companies. Mr Linsley is currently a member of the board of Behre Dolbear.
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