MAJOR TRANSACTION COMPLETED: $2.475 MILLION PRIVATE PLACEMENT
December 22, 1997
Arnold Wong, President of Techcorp Rentals Inc. today announced it has completed its "major transaction", according to Policy 4.11 of the Alberta Securities Commission and Circular No. 7 of The Alberta Stock Exchange.
At the Annual and Special Meeting of the Shareholders held on December 5, 1997, shareholders approved the major transaction and a private placement of units totaling a minimum of $1.5 million and a maximum of $2.5 million. Shareholders also approved a name change to Techcorp Industries Inc. The Corporation anticipates to trade on the Alberta Stock Exchange under the new name in January.
The major transaction is the acquisition from Alpine Oil Services Corporation of an Underbalanced Blowout Preventer (UBOP) prototype, which is a rotating control head, and all proprietary design and manufacturing rights for a cost of $600,000, and a coincidental purchase and sale order by Alpine for an additional six UBOP's for the sum of $2.1 million. These sales are to be completed as soon as Techcorp can build and deliver the UBOP's. In order to fund the initial construction the Corporation plans to utilize existing cash on hand, and a private placement of $2,475,000, plus the sale proceeds.
The Corporation closed a private placement of units on December 19, 1997, with 100 individuals subscribing for a total of 6,600,000 units ($2,475,000). Each unit was priced at $0.375 and consisted of one Common Share and one Common Share purchase warrant entitling the holder to purchase one Common Share for $0.50 per share for a period of 18 months from closing. With the private placement of units, there are now 12,950,000 shares issued and outstanding.
Techcorp's inaugural product is the RPM System 3000TM (Rotating Pressure Monitoring System), a rotating control head that maintains well bore pressures during the process of underbalanced drilling. The RPM System 3000TM has a United States patent pending. Underbalanced drilling operations provide substantial gains to the operator through reduced formation damage, reduced fluid loss costs and increased penetration rates, ultimately giving the operator greater production from the well. As a result, these operations are becoming widely accepted and desirable within the industry.
The RPM System 3000TM offers a number of unique features and benefits. The compact design of the rotating BOP requires less height for installation than other competing systems, and allows for installation in a wider selection of rig systems without modifications being made to the rig structures. The design also eliminates the high initial element wear seen with conventional rotating heads, and eliminates the need for personnel to interface with the BOP while it is installed, improving safety and speeding change out of the sealing element. With conventional rotating control heads or rotating blowout preventers, it is necessary to have a wide variety of seal elements for a specific size of drill pipe or tubular. With the RPM System 3000TM BOP this is not necessary as the element is energized to suit whatever size of drill pipe is being used.
As stated above, the RPM System 3000TM is Techcorp's inaugural product. Techcorp's mandate is to design and develop proprietary products used in the oil service sector, renting, selling and leasing this equipment on a longer term basis. Techcorp currently has completed the first three of six units sold to Alpine Oil Services Corporation. As well, the Corporation has received expressions of interest in additional units from companies located in Alberta, the United States, and other countries. The Corporation is currently working on additional products, which are expected to be completed in 1998.
"The Alberta Stock Exchange has neither approved or disapproved of this information."
For further information, contact Jason Krueger at 403-294-7802. |
