Toreador Resources, shareholder reach agreement on board appointments; CEO resigns

By Jennifer Chiou

New York, Jan. 23 - Toreador Resources Corp. announced that it appointed Craig McKenzie, Peter Hill and Julien Balkany to its board of directors while Nigel J. Lovett has resigned as chief executive officer, president and director of the company.

In addition, John M. McLaughlin has resigned as a non-executive chairman and a director.

McKenzie will be the interim CEO, and Hill will be a non-executive chairman.

The company reached the settlement agreement with shareholder Nanes Balkany Partners LLC, which previously nominated McKenzie and Marc Sengès to be elected to Toreador's board at the company's 2009 annual meeting in a prior schedule 13D/A filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Under the agreement, Nanes Balkany has withdrawn its nomination to elect a slate of three nominees to the board at the 2009 annual meeting. Toreador has also agreed to redeem the stockholder rights plan announced on Nov. 20 after obtaining the requisite approvals from its lender.

McKenzie has over 23 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. He was CEO and director of Canadian Superior Energy Inc., a Canadian oil and gas exploration and production company with upstream operations in Canada, Trinidad & Tobago and Tunisia/Libya, from October 2007 until December 2008.

Hill has more than 35 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. He has been a non-executive chairman of Austral Pacific Energy since 2006.

Balkany has been a managing member and chief investment officer of Nanes Balkany since January 2008. He has been a managing director at Nanes Delorme Capital Management LLC, a New York-based financial advisory and broker-dealer firm, managing its oil and gas investment banking business since 2005.

As already noted, Nanes Balkany, with a 5.3% ownership interest, had reserved the right to seek board representation if its concerns about the Dallas oil and gas company's performance continued to fall "on deaf ears."

The investor had previously suggested that Toreador reduce its debt and overhead expenses, begin a share buyback program for at least 2 million shares and sell certain assets.

In December, Toreador responded to Nanes Balkany's concerns, saying the company was working to close the sale of a 26.75% interest in its Turkish asset, the South Akcakoca Sub-Basin. Proceeds from the sale will be used to reduce debt, Toreador said.

Toreador also said it cut its general and administrative budget for 2009 to less than $10 million, or about 40% below the prior year's level.

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