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Gold/Mining/Energy : YBM Magnex Intl Sees Revenue Growth 30-35%/Yr In MagnetOp -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Arcane Lore who wrote (263)	9/16/1998 12:46:00 PM
From: Adrian du Plessis	Respond to of 314

BUCKS COUNTY COURIER TIMES Wednesday, September 16, 1998 BUSINESS YBM has a date with angry stockholders The embattled industrial magnet company, plagued by unreconciled books, a federal probe and allegations of links to the Russian mob, has set a date for a showdown with its stockholders. By Liz Johnson Courier Times Already, one YBM Magnex International Inc. shareholding company said it intends to replace the Newtown-based company's board of directors with its own. Most likely, others will follow suit at a shareholders meeting scheduled for Nov. 17 in Toronto. The shareholders, many of them investment companies who represent pension and mutual funds, were left holding the bag when international magnet company couldn't balance its books in May. That spurred a federal investigation and suspended trading of its stock on the Toronto stock exchange, where YBM stock is traded. The stock, which last sold at $12 a share, is worthless until the Ontario Securities Commission lifts the ban it imposed May 13. In a prepared release issued Sept. 11, Connor, Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. in Toronto said it will "seek to influence the control or direction of YBM Magnex International, Inc." The investment firm owns a 14 percent stake in YBM and is the first to publicly call for the current board's removal. Others, though, have made the same charge through Toronto consulting firm VC & Co.Inc,, hired last month to represent stockholders' interest in the turmoil. Meanwhile, YBM management attempted to shore up its control. Last week, the company announced that President and Chief Executive Officer Jacob G. Bogatin will replace Harry Antes as chairman of the board. And in a prepared release, YBM said it hired accountants at Grant Thornton LLP "to consult on regulatory issues," although there was no mention about the firm reconciling the company's books. YBM spokesman Guy Scala could not be reached for comment. Deloitte & Touche, the international accounting firm hired to certify YBM's 1997 figures, walked away from the company in May when its accountants couldn't verify numbers from the magnet company's Eastern European transactions. Shortly after that, federal investigators raided the company's Newtown headquarters, allegedly searching for clues that the company had ties to Russian organized crime. Two of its stockholders are purported members of the Russian mob in Hungary, where YBM Magnex has a plant and does substantial business, according to its annual report. YBM officials have refused to comment on the investigation, other than to say they are cooperating with authorities. A company inquiry released in June found no criminal activity, but admitted violations of corporate policy by executives in Eastern Europe. Igor Fisherman, the company's chief operating officer who worked in at the company's Hungary facility, stepped down. In the wake of the report, he was replaced in August. YBM posted $137.8 million in sales in 1997, a 52 percent increase over 1996's sales of $90.3 million. YBM's profit was $25.6 million, up 60 percent from $16 million in 1996, according to the company's uncertified 1997 report.