TORONTO, April 5 /CNW/ - SAMSys Technologies Inc. ("SAMSys"), (SMY:CDNX),
of Toronto, a provider of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader
hardware, today announced the closing of a CDN $8.8 million private placement
to BTG International Limited ("BTG"), the UK-based global technology
commercialization company. In return BTG has received 8,000,000 SAMSys common
shares at a price of $1.10 per share representing 27.9% of the outstanding
common shares of the company (23.6% on a fully diluted basis). The common
shares issued to BTG are subject to a regulatory 12-month hold period from the
closing date of the private placement.
SAMSys will use the proceeds primarily to fund working capital
requirements for the ongoing commercialization and deployment of its RFID
reader technologies and expanded service offerings.
SAMSys also announced today the finalization of a joint venture with BTG
to develop technologies addressing the rapidly growing Ultra High Frequency
(UHF) segment of the RFID marketplace. Each party has committed to an
investment of CDN $800,000 and has contributed intellectual property or know
how to a focused development program. SAMSys and BTG have agreed that the
benefits of such program will be subject to revenue sharing arrangements. If
the program achieves specified technical milestones, at BTG's option in lieu
of revenue sharing, it may grant SAMSys a worldwide fully paid and exclusive
license to the technology. In consideration of the joint venture and other
intellectual property rights, SAMSys has agreed to issue 2,500,000 non-voting
convertible redeemable shares to BTG. These shares are convertible on a one to
one basis into SAMSys common shares only if the program's technical milestones
are achieved and BTG elects to grant SAMSys the license. These shares will
otherwise be redeemable for nominal consideration.
Certain of the documents relating to the non-voting convertible
redeemable shares are being held in escrow pending necessary corporate filings
once the current public service strike in Ontario has ended.
Cliff Horwitz, Founder and CEO of SAMSys, added: "This investment
represents the true "coming of age" of SAMSys. It provides the necessary
working capital to enable the build out of an infrastructure which will pave
the way for a comprehensive commercialization strategy incorporating all of
the areas of the Company's expertise. But, it also is the result of an
exhaustive evaluation and investigation by BTG into the current and future
direction of the RFID marketplace. We look forward to the collaboration and
input from our new partner, and we are all confident that the combination of
new resources and current strengths will result in the success for which we
have been striving."
Ian Harvey, BTG's CEO, commented: "We are delighted to be associated with
SAMSys through our direct investment and the joint venture. We look forward to
working with the SAMSys team, and to seeing the company become a leader in the
rapidly developing RFID market place."
RFID has a broad range of potential applications, including inventory
management, parcel and container tracking, airline baggage/passenger tracking
and supply chain management. The worldwide market for RFID is estimated by
Venture Development Corp. to be growing at 27% CAGR, with projected sales in
2002 of $1.5 billion.
About RFID: RFID is a wireless electronic labelling/data collection
system that uses radio frequency signals as a communication medium between tag
protocols and readers by which to identify and count closely spaced items
without the need to separate or scan individually tagged objects. RFID offers
numerous advantages over optical barcode systems and other Automatic Data
Collection technologies. It can be used in a variety of applications, where it
is desirable to remove dependence on Line of Sight, Physical Contact and
Operator Intervention. Today's state of the art RFID technologies also include
Read/Write capabilities as well as Anti-Collision algorithms, permitting the
simultaneous reading of a large number of tagged objects, while ensuring that
each tag is read only once. Potential applications are broad and varied, and
would include Warehouse/Storage, Parcel and Container Tracking, Stock Control/
Inventory, Anti-theft for Asset Protection, Airline Baggage/ Passenger
Tagging, and Supply Chain Management. A further emerging market for this
technology exists in the field of contactless smart cards. This application is
fast growing in popularity for financial transaction processing. A rapidly
emerging industry, the RFID market is projected to grow at 27% CAGR, with
annual sales in 2002 of $1.5 billion, according to Venture Development Corp. |
