Christine Feldmanis joins the IMF Bentham Board as non-executive director

Christine Feldmanis joins the IMF Bentham Board as non-executive director

SYDNEY, 2 October 2018: IMF Bentham (ASX:IMF), announces the appointment of Christine Feldmanis to the IMF Bentham board of directors (Board) with effect from 1 November 2018. 

Ms Feldmanis has more than 30 years’ experience in the financial sector in areas including investment management, finance, accounting and risk management and governance in both listed and unlisted financial product markets. Ms Feldmanis formerly held senior executive and C-suite positions with firms including Elders Finance, Bankers Trust, NSW TCorp and Treasury Group.

Ms Feldmanis is currently a director of ASX listed Perpetual Equity Investment Company (ASX Code: “PIC”) and is also a director of FIIG Securities Limited, Uniting Financial Services, Foodbank NSW & ACT Limited and Bell Asset Management Limited.

The Board welcomes Ms Feldmanis to IMF Bentham and looks forward to her contribution as a non-executive director.  Ms Feldmanis has been appointed by the Board as an additional director and will stand for election at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM).

Ms Feldmanis joins the Board’s as part of the Board’s renewal following the decision of Wendy McCarthy AO to retire from the Board following the forthcoming AGM.

Chairman Mr Michael Kay said: “I welcome Christine Feldmanis who will take her seat on the Board on 1 November 2018.  Christine’s skills together with her commercial and Board experience make her a valuable new member of our team.”

Ms Wendy McCarthy AO retires as Non-Executive Director

IMF Bentham also announces that Ms Wendy McCarthy AO will retire from the Board at the conclusion of the 2018 AGM on 21 November 2018.  Ms McCarthy will also be retiring from her positions as Chair of the Corporate Governance Committee, Chair of the Nomination Committee and member of the Audit and Risk Committee and Remuneration Committee.

Ms McCarthy has been a non-executive Director of IMF Bentham since December 2013.

Chairman Mr Michael Kay thanked Ms McCarthy for her fine contribution: “On behalf of the Board, I express our sincere thanks to Wendy for her significant contribution to IMF Bentham’s development and transformation over the past five years.  It has been a pleasure working with Wendy and we wish her well in life after IMF Bentham.”

Stuart Mitchell appointed Chief Financial Officer and Julia Yetsenga as Global Fund Financial Manager

The Board is also pleased to announce the appointment of Stuart Mitchell as Chief Financial Officer of IMF Bentham effective from 12 November 2018 following the decision of Ms Julia Yetsenga to transition from the role of Chief Financial Officer to Global Fund Financial Manager to support the transition of IMF Bentham’s business model to a funds management structure.

Mr Mitchell is a qualified lawyer, Chartered Accountant and Chartered Company Secretary who has over 20 years’ commercial experience in the Australian financial services sector. Mr Mitchell’s experience includes financial, regulatory and tax compliance in multiple jurisdictions as well as funds management and private equity experience.

Mr Mitchell was recently CFO at Ironbridge Capital where he held that position since 2004.  At Ironbridge, Mr Mitchell managed the structuring, implementation and monitoring of investments (and divestments) in Australia and New Zealand. He implemented financial management and administrative support as Ironbridge grew in size and across two funds progressed the implementation, ongoing management, structuring and execution of investment, fund and investor activities.

The Board would like to acknowledge and thank Ms Yetsenga for her significant contribution as Chief Financial Officer and looks forward to her continued involvement in the evolution of the business and at the same time welcomes Mr Mitchell’s appointment and looks forward to his contribution as the new Chief Financial Officer.

US Investment Committee appointment - Mr Peter Ostroff

IMF Bentham confirms that Mr Peter Ostroff, a former partner of Sidley Austin LLP, has taken up a permanent role on IMF Bentham’s US Investment Committee as the second non-employee member of the committee following the appointment in October 2016 of Judge Vaughan Walker.

Mr Ostroff has over four decades of litigation experience, including most recently, more than 30 years as a partner in Sidley Austin LLP's Los Angeles Litigation group.  He served for a number of years as the head of Sidley's west coast litigation practice, as co-chair of the firm's Complex Commercial Litigation practice and a member of the firm's governing Executive Committee.  His legal achievements have been recognised in the 2011-2015 editions of The Best Lawyers in America in Bet-The-Company Litigation, Commercial Litigation, Litigation – Intellectual Property, and Litigation – Labor and Employment and in the 2014-2015 editions for Entertainment Law– Music.  In addition, Mr Ostroff was recognised as a Litigation Star in the 2013 and 2014 editions of Benchmark Litigation.

The Board welcomes Mr Ostroff and looks forward to his contribution to the US Investment Committee.

About IMF Bentham

IMF is one of the leading global litigation funders, headquartered in Australia and with offices in the US, Singapore, Canada, Hong Kong and the UK.  IMF has built its reputation as a trusted provider of innovative litigation funding solutions and has established an increasingly diverse portfolio of litigation funding assets.

IMF has a highly experienced litigation funding team overseeing its investments. We have a 90% success rate over 175 completed investments and have recovered over A$1.4 billion for clients since 2001. 

For further information regarding IMF and its activities, please visit www.imf.com.au