VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 16, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Global Gardens Group Inc. (the “Company”) (CSE:VGM) is pleased to announce that the Company has appointed Nitin Kaushal to the Board of Directors and Praveen Varshney and Paul Sun to the Board of Advisors of the Company.
Nitin Kaushal
Mr. Kaushal has over 25 years of financial and investment experience across North America spanning a number of industries. He is presently a Managing Director at PriceWaterhouseCoopers in the corporate finance practice. Over the course of his career he has worked in senior roles with a number of Canadian investment banks, including Desjardins Securities Inc., Orion Securities Inc., Vengate Capital, HSBC Securities Inc. and Gordon Capital. He has held roles within the private equity/venture capital industry at MDS Capital Corp. In addition, Mr. Kaushal has sat on a number of public and private company boards. He was awarded a Bachelor of Science (Chemistry) from the University of Toronto and is a Chartered Accountant. Mr. Kaushal is currently a director of Patient Home Monitoring Corp., Convalo Health International, Delivra Inc. and Shelby Ventures.
Praveen Varshney
Mr. Varshney, FCPA, FCA has been a principal of Varshney Capital Corp., a Vancouver based merchant banking, venture capital and corporate advisory services firm, since 1991. He has many years of public market experience and is a director or officer of various publicly traded companies including Canada Zinc Metals Corp. and Mogo. Mr. Varshney is a very active angel investor, is a Vancouver Social Venture Partner and on a number of other non-profit boards. He is also a past recipient of Business in Vancouver’s 40 Under 40 Awards.
Paul Sun
Paul Sun has over 20 years of business experience and has held numerous senior roles at investment banks including Scotia Capital, Desjardins, and Beacon Securities. Paul has provided financial solutions from small start-ups to billion dollar market-cap companies and has been involved in many transactions across the entire capital structure. He has built an extensive investor network and is a trusted advisor. He has also held project and operations management positions at a number of private and publicly traded companies. He was awarded his Bachelor of Applied Science and Engineering from The University of Toronto and his Master of Business Administration from the Schulich School of Business. He holds the Professional Engineer and Certified Financial Analyst designations. Paul is as passionate about the markets as he is about health and well-being.
“We are excited to welcome all three executives to our team,” says Rob Harrison, President and CEO of Global Gardens Group. “Having the opportunity to attract such talented and successful entrepreneurs really highlights the value of our product and GGG’s growth opportunity. Mr. Kaushal, Mr. Varshney and Mr. Sun each bring the necessary capital market and industry experience that we need to take this company to the next level and I can’t be happier to be working with them. Given their past successes, I think our shareholders should be very happy with their involvement and our outlook going forward. Although we’ve made some significant strides in putting Veggemo on the shelves of some of the biggest retailers in Canada, we are only at our infancy and look forward to issuing more positive news and developments to our shareholders over the coming quarters.”
Stock Option Grants and Warrant Extension
The Company also announces that it has granted a total of 775,000 incentive stock options under the Company’s Stock Option Plan to certain directors, officers, employees and consultants of the Company. The options have a five year term and are exercisable at a price of $0.25 per Class A common share for a period of 5 years.
The Company also announces that the expiry date of 400,000 warrants issued to Brian Isherwood on June 5, 2014 has been extended to November 21, 2017. Each such warrant is exercisable at a price of $0.35 per Class A common share.
About Veggemo
The Veggemo product line is the first and only non-dairy beverage to originate from vegetables and is Global Garden Group’s showcase product for the dairy-free industry. The Dairy-free industry continues to witness dynamic growth led by the development of plant-based food and beverages.
Driven by shifting consumer behavior Health & Wellness food and beverage companies have become a popular acquisition target for many multi-national corporations. Most recently Vega, the provider of plant-based shakes and supplements, was successfully sold to WhiteWave Foods for $550 million representing a 5.5x revenue multiple.
About Global Gardens Group
Global Gardens Group is comprised of a highly experienced management team and board that have provided senior leadership to many consumer brands including: Neilson Dairy, Ben & Jerry’s and Haagen Dazs ice cream, Gillette, P&G, Cadbury Schweppes, Sunkist, Dole, Primo pasta and Lululemon.
CONTACT: For further information, please contact: Investor Relations Transcend Capital Inc. Etienne Moshevich T: 604.681.0084 E: [email protected]