NEWS
Monday March 19, 9:48 am Eastern Time
Press Release
iTech Capital Corporate Update
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--iTech Capital announced today that Brian A. Hinchcliffe has resigned his positions as chairman of the board, director and co-CEO. William W. Staudt, iTech's president and co-CEO, has now become president and CEO.
To update our investing activity, in the second half of 2000 iTech made an additional investment in Medsite through a Participating Series C Convertible Preferred Stock, bringing its total investment to US$2,600,000. The financing round was led by Chase Capital Partners and included Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Venture Partners, The Argentum Group and others. ``We continue to be impressed with Medsite's business model and strategy, and the Company continues to perform well. Using the power of the Internet, Medsite provides a broad range of innovative products and services to its large and growing physician customer base'', stated William Staudt.
As indicated in earlier news items to shareholders, iTech Capital agreed to invest US$1,500,000 in Ironside Ventures, L.P. (the Fund), a private equity fund managed by Ironside Management L.L.C. (formerly MF Private Capital, Inc.). To date, iTech has invested US$535,000 as part of this commitment. The Fund's investment objective is to achieve long term capital appreciation from a diverse portfolio of privately held businesses engaged in high growth segments of the economy including communications infrastructure and information technology. William Staudt has been appointed to the Fund's Advisory Committee.
The initial assets of the Fund will consist of a portion of the equity investments in the Fund's targeted business segments which were previously acquired by Manulife Financial Corporation, an AA plus (S&P) rated insurance and financial services organization headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. These selected assets of Manulife have been purchased at Manulife's original cost. Manulife, in turn, was admitted as a Special Limited Partner of the Fund with a capital commitment equal to the cost of the selected assets.
iTech continues to maintain a strong balance sheet. As of December 31, 2000, the Company had C$5,589,300 in cash and cash equivalents, and C$979,200 in restricted cash equivalents. Given the recent market turbulence, iTech intends (subject to meeting its Ironside funding commitment) to preserve its cash until the markets stabilize.
iTech's Annual General Meeting is scheduled to be held in Toronto on April 18, 2001. Shareholders will receive formal notification of the meeting, along with the Company's 2000 annual report, in a mailing later this month.
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Contact:
iTech Capital Corp.
Jim Graham
Vice President Investor Relations
(516) 922-6404 or 1-800-675-1749
Email: jimgraham@itechcapital.com
Website: www.itechcapital.com |
