GAM  

Gam appoints new board following failed Liontrust bid

Gam appoints new board following failed Liontrust bid
GAM's extraordinary general meeting was held on September 27.

An extraordinary general meeting has appointed a new board for Swiss asset management company Gam.

The former board members all agreed to step down following the failed takeover of the firm by Liontrust in August. 

At a meeting on Wednesday (September 27) shareholders voted on a new board to lead Gam

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Antoine Spillmann was appointed as chairman with Carlos Esteve, Anthony Maarek, Fabien Pictet and Jeremy Smouha all appointed as directors.

Spillman is an executive partner at Swiss wealth management firm Breullan, which is part of the NewGame group of investors which opposed Liontrust's bid.

Shareholders agreed Rock Investments would provide funding for Gam. Rock is owned by NJJ Holding, which owns 9.6 per cent of Gam and is also part of the NewGame group of investors.

However proposals to create conditional capital for financing purposes and to increase the capital range didn't get enough support from investors and "narrowly failed" according to the company. 

On Tuesday (September 26) NewGame announced it would offer to increase its funding from CHF20mn (£17.9) to CHF100mn (£89.6mn).

It said this was subject to the group's proposed directors being elected to the board. 

NewGame has also proposed Elmar Zumbuehl as the new chief executive of Gam - a change from its previous proposal of previous proposal of Randel Freeman, who has withdrawn due to unforeseen family circumstances. 

Zumbuehl, who is Gam's chief risk officer, said: "The business has a strong international brand, talented teams across the business and exceptional investment performance. I look forward to building on these strengths to put Gam onto a sustained recovery path."

tara.o'connor@ft.com

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