Vancouver, BC, Canada - November 6, 2009, Vancouver, BC, Canada - Petaquilla Minerals Ltd. announced that Joao Manuel has been appointed as the company's president and CEO, and Richard Fifer will serve as non-executive chairman of the board.
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Mr. Manuel joined the Company in December 2008 as its Chief Operating Officer after serving as the Chief Financial Officer of Petaquilla Copper Ltd.
Mr. Fifer holds B.S. degree in Geology, B.S. in Geophysical Engineering, and M.A. in Finance. Mr. Fifer is former president of Corporación de Desarrollo Minero (Codemin), Panama's State Mining Company, former National Security Advisor to The Presidency of the Republic of Panama. Mr. Fifer has also served as governor of the Province of Cocle.
The company also announced that Daniel Small, David Levy, David Kaplan and Raul Ferrer have joined Richard Fifer as new directors of the Company.
Mr. Small is a Managing Director at the investment advising firm of Platinum Management. Prior to joining Platinum, Mr. Small was a Senior Analyst who served on the investment committee at Glenview Capital Management, and a director of the Strategic Risk Group at Merrill Lynch responsible for a $1 billion multi-strategy proprietary investing platform. Mr. Small is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and earned a doctorate in law from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Mr. Levy is a member of the private placement group at Platinum and has participated in more than 25 capital raising transactions for public and private corporations. He specializes in structuring and negotiating financings at all levels of the capital structure through extensive industry research, financial analysis and modeling. Mr. Levy graduated with honors from Sy Syms School of Business of Yeshiva University.
Mr. Kaplan is a key member of LIM Advisors LLC, a multi-strategy investment group. He manages a portfolio of metal and energy futures and securities for a commodity hedge fund. Mr. Kaplan is a former Vice-President of Gerald Metals Inc., financial analyst with Glencore Ltd., and graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. ■