Aura Systems, Inc. Completes Third Phase of Restructuring
EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 28, 2002--AURA SYSTEMS, INC. (OTCBB:AURA) announced today that it has completed the third phase of its informal corporate restructure started in 1999.
The restructure was composed of a number of elements and phases.
The first phase involved focus on the AuraGen product as the primary activity of the Company. To achieve this focus, the Company discontinued some operations and joint ventures, sold its speaker and piezoelectric ceramic businesses, and temporarily suspended all work on the Electromagnetic Valve Actuator ("EVA") applications.
The second phase of the restructuring was debt reduction. The Company, in a number of different phases, reduced debt from approximately $100 million in 1999 to less than $10 million today. The current $10 million dollars of debt includes approximately $5.2 million for the first trust deed on the Company's 77,000 square foot complex located in El Segundo, California. The debt reduction process entailed some cash payments to creditors, some conversion of debt into equity and substantial debt forgiveness from three major creditors. The last phase of the debt reduction completed in February 2002 eliminated approximately $16 million of debt including the last remaining $12 million of secured debt to the largest creditor of the company.
The third phase of the restructure involved changes to the operating management of the Company and to the Board of Directors. First, the Company appointed Mr. Steve Burdick as its new CFO in February 2002. On March 1, 2002 Mr. Joshua Hauser assumed his responsibilities as Aura's new President and Chief Executive Officer, with his 35 years of experience in the power control systems industry. Effective the same day, Director Carl Albert became the Chairman of the Board of Directors. Harry Kurtzman, former Chairman and CEO resigned from those positions and from the Board of Directors and became a consultant to the company effective February 28, 2002. On March 1, 2002, Mr. John Pincavage, CFA joined the board and in March, 2002 Mr. Harry Haisfield and Mr. William Richbourg stepped down from the Board for personal reasons.
Mr. Carl Albert, Aura's Chairman said, "The appointment of the new management team will allow us to execute the business plan aggressively, focusing on the diverse markets in which the AuraGen adds value." Mr. Hauser said, "The AuraGen is based on revolutionary technology developed by Aura Systems, Inc., and provides a complete electric power solution that has many different applications for a vast array of global power users. In order to effectively use our resources, we plan to first focus our sales and marketing activities on a few key industries and users. These users are faced with an increasing demand for clean power for digital instruments and sensors, on-the-go data collection, retrieval and real time analysis and productivity enhancing automation. The Aura technology is ideally suited to meet these diverse users and we believe that the AuraGen will become the mobile power solution of choice. I am looking forward to implementing this paradigm shift and preparing Aura to take its place as the world leader of the mobile power industry."
Aura Systems, Inc., a leader in electromagnetic systems, is located in El Segundo, CA.
More information about the Company is available on the Company's website: aurasystems.com |
