Dell to buy 5% stake in Norway's FAST-------->
DELL COMPUTER TO BUY 5% STAKE IN NORWAY'S FAST FOR NK257 MLN
(The following is a reformatted version of a press release issued by Fast Search & Transfer ASA.) Fast Search & Transfer ASA Announces Signing of Memorandum of Understanding and Conditional Share Placing/Option Agreement with Dell Computer Corporation
Oslo, Aug. 2 -- Fast Search & Transfer ASA (FAST) announced today that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Dell Computer Corporation (Dell) (Round Rock, TX) concerning the promotion, marketing, sale and distribution of certain products offered by the parties. The parties have agreed to use reasonable efforts to negotiate and execute a Comprehensive Agreement within 45 days of the execution of this letter. Any Comprehensive Agreement will fully address business arrangements between the parties in the areas of co-marketed, bundled solutions and programs for the consumer and corporate search engine markets, the use of FAST Search by Dell on its Internet and Intranet web sites, and negotiated pricing for the purchase of each other's products.
At the same time, FAST and Dell have entered into a Conditional Placing Agreement whereby, conditional on the event that the parties enter into a Comprehensive Agreement within 45 days of the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, Dell will subscribe for 1,838,158 shares in FAST, representing 5.0 % of the enlarged issued capital of FAST, at a price of NOK 140 per share, the closing price of FAST's shares last Friday July 30, 1999. The issue will raise NOK 257 million before expenses (approximately US$ 33 million) which will be used to fund the continued expansion of the FAST organization. Furthermore, FAST will grant Dell an option to subscribe for an additional 1,838,158 shares at a subscription price of NOK 140 per share within 9 months from the date of signing the Conditional Placing Agreement, or upon consummation of the listing of the Company's shares on the NASDAQ stock exchange, whichever is the sooner. "We are pleased to be expanding and deepening our strategic partnership with Dell and to be working closely with them on a number of very exciting market opportunities," said Thomas Fussell, Chairman of FAST. "Dell has emerged as a premier worldwide supplier of PC desktops, laptops and high performance servers. Their presence in major corporations, and knowledge of PC and Internet markets, should generate many high profile FAST/Dell opportunities. As a significant FAST stockholder, Dell will now share in the growth of our company. Together with Dell, we look forward to bringing FAST search technology to corporate and consumer markets, major portals, search engines, ISPs, and content/ecommerce sites." About Fast Search & Transfer ASA Fast Search & Transfer ASA (FAST) is a high-technology company that develops and markets advanced and innovative search and real- time filtering solutions for the Internet and corporate markets. The company performs research and development out of its corporate headquarters in Oslo, Norway, and in Trondheim, Norway, while sales, marketing, customer support, field engineering, and operations are run from the US headquarters in Boston, MA, and the San Francisco, CA, office. FAST's fully scalable cost- efficient search and filtering software and hardware ranges from highly specialized and targeted search engines to generic technology solutions for large corporations and Internet content providers. The products include the world's largest search engines for structured and non-structured text, high-capacity real-time content filters for instant personalized information delivery, and high-quality multimedia solutions for electronic commerce. FAST is traded on the OTC market in Oslo, Norway. Contact persons: President and CEO, Espen Brodin Chairman, Thomas Fussell FAST ASA Tel: + 44 118 934 2440. Tel: +1 508 616 2400 Fax: + 44 118 934 2441 Fax: +1 508 616 2410 Thomas.Fussell@fast.no Espen.Brodin@fast.no -ENDS- ST(bs) -0- (CRL) Aug/02/1999 10:13
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