Three of Parken Entertainment’s board members leave due to the company’s financial crisis and share collapse

Three prominent members of Parken Sports & Entertainment (PSE) have decided to leave the financially troubled company following a majority share owners’ decision to allow chairman Flemming Østergaard to keep his post.

Hans Jensen, Peter Norvig og Michael Kjær indicated they would step down from the board at the company meeting on 21 December. Last week, PSE announced it expected losses of 254 million kroner for 2009.

The three had previously been supporters of Østergaard and none of them have commented publicly on their reasons for leaving the board.
One replacement on the board has already been announced, according to a PSE press release. Billionaire Erik Skjærbæk, who bought into 15 percent of the company’s shares earlier this year, will be a new board member.

Pension firm LD, which owns 30 percent of PSE, indicated there would be no replacements for the other two board vacancies.
‘Our organisation is going through a period where it has to be trimmed down and consolidated so we can bring our debt down and earnings up,’ said Carsten Koch, LD’s managing director.

Much of PSE’s economic trouble stems from an ill-advised project in southern Italy to build a holiday property consisting of flats and an amusement park. But the proper building allowances and other requirements needed to go through the Italian red tape were never obtained, despite promises of millions in profits to the project’s investors.

PSE has projected a deficit of 100 million kroner for 2010 but expects to be in the black again in 2011. The company’s market value has plummeted since January 2008, falling from 1200 kroner per share to yesterday’s value of 280 kroner per share.

The company will reportedly announce a stock expansion at the upcoming 21 December meeting, where approximately 10 million shares will be issue at 20 kroner each.