For Immediate Release BIV - Alberta Stock Exchange
BELGIUM-BASED FLANDERS LANGUAGE VALLEY VENTURE-CAPITAL FUND INVESTS US$1.5 MILLION IN MARKHAM-BASED BCB HOLDINGS INC.
Three-Stage Deal Allows Venture-Capital Fund to Invest up to US$6.35 million in BCB
June 22, 1998 - MARKHAM, ONTARIO - Ken Murton, Chairman and CEO of BCB Holdings Inc., announced today that BCB and Flanders Language Valley, CVA ("FLV"), a venture-capital group based in Ieper, Belgium, have agreed on the terms of a private placement whereby BCB will issue to FLV a US$1.5 million 120 day 10% Convertible Unsecured Promissory Note (the "Note") which, upon shareholder approval at a Special BCB Shareholder Meeting to be called for this purpose, and final approval of the Alberta Stock Exchange, will automatically be converted into 8,522,725 shares of BCB based on a price of US$0.176 per share.
Murton added, "Also, upon shareholder approval, FLV will receive 8,522,725 warrants expiring on December 22, 1998, each to purchase one BCB share at US$0.22 and, if these warrants are exercised, the Purchase Agreement will permit FLV, at any time on or before June 22, 2000, to purchase up to an additional 8,522,725 shares at US$0.35 per share. Assuming all of the rights under the Purchase Agreement are fully exercised, FLV would have invested in BCB a total of US$6.35 million, which equals about CAN$9.35 million at today's exchange rate, and FLV would hold approximately 35% of BCB's common shares then outstanding."
Peter Vanderlee, BCB's President and COO, says the relationship with Belgium-based FLV will offer BCB a major strategic advantage. "FLV is the only fund worldwide that is focused exclusively on investing in speech and language technologies," he says. "Aside from investment, they offer a variety of other value-added services and are currently building a campus in Ieper, Belgium which will pull together a cluster of leading-edge speech and language technology companies. We intend to participate in that cluster by opening a European subsidiary in Flanders Language Valley within the next year."
Flanders Language Valley is being created to encourage the development and commercialization of speech and language technology based products and services within a 25 hectares dedicated business park, currently under construction at Ieper in the Flemish region of Belgium. The initiative to create the Flanders concept was spearheaded by co-founders Jo Lernout and Pol Hauspie of Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products NV, the maker of speech recognition and language technology, in which Microsoft Corp. owns a 6 percent stake. With the goal to create employment opportunities in the Iepers Flanders Valley region, Microsoft has invested US$3 million in FLV and, among other investors, GIMV NV, a Belgian investment company with invested assets over US$1 billion, has invested 125 million francs (US$3.3 million) in FLV.
FLV currently has US$60 million under management and is planning to raise up to an additional US$62.5 million in an initial public offering, commencing on June 24. A listing on the EASDAQ exchange (a Brussels-based, pan-European exchange for growth companies) is expected in early July. To date, FLV has invested US$33 million in 12 speech and language technology companies.
BCB Holdings Inc. owns and operates BCB Technology Group, a developer of innovative systems and services in computer-based voice processing markets, and Granville Research Inc., which designs and implements Internet-based networks. BCB means Better Communication in Business.
For more information contact:
Peter Vanderlee, BCB Holdings Inc.
(905) 948-8266 ext. 204
Flora Wood
CEF
(416) 777-0001
The Alberta Stock Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the information provided herein.
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