Empower Capital Adds Former Tullow Africa Head to Slate of Director Nominees and Repeats Call That Urgent Change Is Needed at Hyperdynamics

New York, NY, December 17, 2015 (Newswire.com) - ​Empower Capital today announced that it has added Andrew Windham to its slate of experienced and proven oil & gas and Africa focused business leaders which it has nominated to the Board of Directors of Hyperdynamics Corporation (OTCQX: HDYN), the oil & gas exploration company focused on the Republic of Guinea in West Africa.

Andrew Windham is the former Managing Director for Tullow Oil PLC’s Africa Region and is currently a Director at T5 Oil and Gas, which is an Africa focused oil & gas exploration and investment company founded by previous Tullow Board members and senior executives.

"I have been shocked to see the amount of mismanagement taking place at Hyperdynamics and am surprised that those responsible are still running the Company", said Mr. Windham.  "We believe that with the right independent directors in place and with support from the Company's partners real value can be created for shareholders", Mr. Windham further added.

In its December 1 open letter to shareholders, Empower Capital and the slate of director nominees highlighted the substantial problems the CEO and certain legacy board members have caused and continue to cause the Company.  The letter also recommended, among other things, that a new strategy is needed that will be focused on positioning the Company for growth, addressing the substantial capital allocation issues,  and reengagement with global partners and stakeholders, thus creating significant value for shareholders which can only be achieved by a reconfigured board and leadership that has proven expertise, the right relationships, and a clear plan.

The move by the CEO to further enrich himself at the Company's expense instead of working to do what's best for the Company and shareholders is an additional display of why new leadership is required at Hyperdynamics, Empower Capital believes.  Empower Capital also indicated that the shareholder meeting which has been postponed by over six weeks to January 27, 2016 should not be postponed any further. 

"Although it was originally proposed that Andrew would be a part of our Advisory Board going forward, the CEO's actions caused all interested parties to determine that having Andrew as part of the nominee slate instead would rebalance Ray Leonard's desire to entrench himself."

"It's time that we fix the historical problems so that the Company doesn't find itself in a position of running out of money and not being able to maneuver in its best interest before the next development milestones are achieved.", William Hayden, one of the director nominees said.

Empower Capital has proposed an experienced and focused slate of four director nominees to work alongside select capable existing directors to re-establish trust in the Company and position it for long-term growth.

The four director nominees are Dr. Gerald Bailey, William Hayden, James Wilson, and Andrew Windham. Further information and background about the director nominees is available in Empower Capital's comprehensive presentation and forth coming filings.

About Empower Capital

Empower Capital is an emerging natural resource and development projects sponsor and investor.  Empower Capital has partnered with some of the largest international infrastructure and resource development companies for growth projects in multiple countries in Africa. 

Additional Information

Empower Capital and James Wilson intends to make a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission of a proxy statement and an accompanying proxy card to be used to solicit proxies in connection with the 2015 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (including any adjournments or postponements thereof or any special meeting that may be called in lieu thereof) (the "2015 Annual Meeting") of the Company.  Information relating to the participants in such proxy solicitation will be included in materials filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  Stockholders are advised to read the definitive proxy statement and other documents related to the solicitation of stockholders of the Company for use at the 2015 Annual Meeting when they become available because they will contain important information, including additional information relating to the participants in such proxy solicitation.  When completed and available, the definitive proxy statement and a form of proxy will be mailed to shareholders of the Company.  These materials and other materials filed in connection with the solicitation of proxies will be available at no charge at the Securities and Exchange Commission's website at www.sec.gov. 

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The information herein contains "forward-looking statements." Specific forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts and include, without limitation, words such as "may," "will," "expects," "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "estimates," "projects," "targets," "forecasts," "seeks," "could" or the negative of such terms or other variations on such terms or comparable terminology. Similarly, statements that describe our objectives, plans or goals are forward-looking. Our forward-looking statements are based on our current intent, belief, expectations, estimates and projections regarding the Company and projections regarding the industry in which it operates. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that are difficult to predict and that could cause actual results to differ materially.  Accordingly, you should not rely upon forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results and actual results may vary materially from what is expressed in or indicated by the forward-looking statements.