Sudhir Gupta, Tariq Chaudri step down from Amtel-Vredestein board

Enschede, The Netherlands - Sudhir Gupta, founder of Amtel-Vredestein NV has resigned his position as a director of the company and as Chairman of the supervisory board with effect from 31 August 2007. Another member of the supervisory board, Tariq Chaudri, has also resigned as a director with effect from 4 September 2007.

The company announced that Maxim Ignatiev, Amtel-Vredestein's vice-chairman will become acting-chairman.

In his letter of resignation dated 31 August 2007, Gupta said, "My decision to resign from the board of directors of Amtel-Vredestein is the result of my desire to pursue other business interests. I have every confidence in the abilities of my continuing supervisory board colleagues. I am happy to be leaving the business in the capable hands of CEO Petr Zolotarev and his team.”

Ignatiev confirmed the supervisory board will immediately seek suitable candidates to fill the board vacancies, adding that: "We do not expect any significant interruption to the operation of the supervisory board and its committees, and we look forward to welcoming new independent directors to our ranks."

Amtel-Vredestein has a two-tiered board structure whereby a supervisory board made up of non-executive directors oversees an executive board comprising the company's management team. The executive board makes the day-to-day decisions that direct the Company's business units, while the supervisory board provides guidance and oversight, supervises the management of the company and approves certain major policies and strategies.

These two resignations join four senior directors who have resigned from the board in recent months. Meanwhile the company has struggled to sell operations and raise new capital in order to recover from large debts built up during an ambitious expansion phase. Former chief executive, Alexei Gurin, and former COO Sergei Bokhanov both left in June while Rob Oudshoorn and Ton Tholens, the CEO and CFO of Vredestein Banden BV, stepped down in March of this year.

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Press release from Amtel-Vredestein