TAIYUAN, China, Aug. 10 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Puda Coal, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: PUDC) (“Puda Coal” or “the Company”), a leading supplier of China’s high grade metallurgical coking coal used to make coke for the purposes of steel manufacturing, today announced the formal appointment of Mr. Lawrence S. Wizel as an independent member of its board of directors, effective August 3, 2007.
Mr. Wizel joins Puda Coal from Deloitte, where he began his career in 1965 and was a partner in the firm from 1980 until May 2006 when he retired after a long and distinguished career. At Deloitte, Mr. Wizel was a recognized leader in the New York Office Technology Group and was responsible for serving a diverse client base of publicly held and private companies in a variety of capacities including; SEC Commission filings, including initial public offerings, mergers and acquisition transactions and periodic reporting. During the last four years, Mr. Wizel served as a Deputy Professional Practice Director in the Deloitte New York office.
Additionally, Mr. Wizel has extensive experience regarding multinational and multi-locational companies, specifically in regards to China, where he has made in excess of 50 trips primarily assisting Chinese companies with their filings with the SEC. Given his experience, Mr. Wizel has spoken extensively on both going public, raising private placement funds and current accounting issues in the U.S., Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Mr. Wizel holds a BS from Michigan State University and is a Certified Public Accountant.
“We are pleased to have Mr. Wizel officially join our board. We look forward to working with him, and believe his depth of knowledge in the capital markets and corporate oversight will be a major asset to Puda Coal,” stated Zhao Ming, Puda Coal’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “We plan to further enhance our corporate governance and oversight by pursuing other qualified directors and establishing an audit committee.”
About Puda Coal, Inc.
Puda Coal, through its affiliates and controlled entities, supplies premium grade coking coal to the steel making industry for use in making coke. The Company currently possesses 3.5 million metric tons of annual coking coal cleaning capacity, and management believes it is the largest coking coal cleaning company in terms of capacity in Shanxi Province, China. Shanxi Province provides 20 - 25% of China’s coal output and supplies nearly 50% of China’s coke.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
The information contained herein includes forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or to our future anticipated financial performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond our control and which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects our current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to our operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. We do not intend to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. The safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 protects companies from liability for their forward-looking statements if they comply with the requirements of the Act.
For more information, please contact:
For Investor Relations:
Crocker Coulson
President
CCG Elite
Tel: +1-646-213-1915
Email: crocker.coulson@ccgir.com
For Company:
Wenwei Tian
Director of Investor Relations
Puda Coal, Inc.
Tel: +86-351-228-1302
Email: awtian@yahoo.com
