Zi and JKC sign letter of intent
JKC to acquire Magic Lantern Group
CALGARY, ALBERTA and NEW YORK, NEW YORK--Zi Corporation (NASDAQ: ZICA) (TSE:
ZIC), a leading provider of intelligent interface solutions, and JKC Group,
Inc. ("JKC") (AMEX: JKC), a distributor and licensor, jointly announced today
that they have signed a letter of intent for the sale of the Magic Lantern
group of companies to JKC. The proposed sale is subject to a number of
conditions, including completion of a definitive agreement by July 15, 2002,
approval by the shareholders of JKC, completion of due diligence and regulatory
clearances.
"Our plan when we acquired Magic Lantern in March 2002 included eventual steps
to combine our North American e-learning investment with a publicly traded
company," said Michael E. Lobsinger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Zi
Corporation. "With this pending transaction, we will be a significant
shareholder in JKC Group, Inc. and look forward to leveraging JKC's licensing
and distribution abilities to improve Magic Lantern's access to North American
and Asian markets."
Richard Siskind, President and Chief Executive Officer of JKC added, "we
believe the Magic Lantern e-learning business model is highly compatible with
the expansion of the company's existing licensing and distribution business
model. Our distribution and licensing expertise will help expand Magic
Lantern's already significant market presence for educational products, and the
Magic Lantern brand in turn should provide us with a meaningful boost to our
existing licensing business."
About Magic Lantern
Founded in 1975, Magic Lantern is one of Canada's leading distributors of
educational and learning content in video and other electronic formats. The
company has exclusive distribution rights to over 300 film producers
representing over 14,000 titles, and its customers include 9,000 out of 12,000
English speaking schools in Canada. The Magic Lantern library includes content
from Disney Educational, Annenberg / CPB and CTV Television. Tutorbuddy Inc.,
a subsidiary of Magic Lantern to be acquired as part of the transaction, is an
internet-enabled provider of content and related educational services on-demand
to students, teachers and parents. Sonoptic Technologies Inc., a 75% owned
subsidiary of Magic Lantern, provides high-quality, state-of-the-art digital
video encoding services and has developed a proprietary videobase indexing
software that allows users to easily and quickly aggregate, bookmark, re-sort
and add their own comment boxes to pre-existing content.
About Zi Corporation
Zi Corporation (www.zicorp.com) is a market-driven technology company
delivering intelligent interface solutions to enhance the user experience of
wireless and consumer technologies. The company's core technology product,
eZiText, connects people to short messaging, e-mail, e-commerce, Web browsing
and similar applications in almost any language. Zi supports its strategic
partners from offices in Calgary, Beijing, Hong Kong, London, San Francisco and
Stockholm. The common stock of Zi Corporation is listed on the NASDAQ National
Market (ZICA) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (ZIC). www.zicorp.com
About JKC Group, Inc.
JKC Group, Inc., formerly named Stage II Apparel Corp., was historically
engaged primarily as a distributor of apparel. The company has significant
experience in licensing and distribution. In April 2002 the company announced
that it would focus its resources on expansion of these two service lines. To
accomplish this, the company completed an equity infusion and board
reconstitution in April 2002. The common stock of JKC Group is listed on the
American Stock Exchange (JKC). |
