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Gold/Mining/Energy : T.ITE: iTech Capital (TSE) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Michael Brandon who wrote (4533)	3/23/2000 8:51:00 PM
From: Rob Davis	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 5053

Here is a transcription (all errors are mine) from the iTech radio interview. You can listen to a copy yourself from newswire.ca -=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- And welcome back, I'm Robert Graham. In today's Company In Profile segment we're focusing on a company that provides an interesting investing opportunity for those who felt left out of the IPO game. The company is called iTech Capital Corporation and has its Canadian offices headquartered in Vancouver. iTech president and co-chief executive officer Bill Staudt is with us. Welcome to the show Bill. Well, thank you very much. The investing opportunities which your company offers includes Canadians getting in on pre-initial public offerings of American technology companies without jeopordizing foreign content rules for our RRSPs. How does that work? Well we are a business development company. We are a Canadian company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Our symbol is ITE and our website is itechcapital.com. We invest in private, U.S. based, high growth, technology companies and we focused on the internet business-to-business and telecommunications sectors. So through our company our shareholders participate in private equity investments which is basically buying wholesale and then when the company goes through a liquidity event, an IPO or a sale, that effectively becomes the retail valuation and generally there is a pretty big spread between the two. So that's how it works. Ok now, the companies in question- are they relatively new startups with an IPO well off into the future or are we talking about companies that are basically on the verge of going public? We actually have both in our portfolio. We have one company that is in registration as we speak that will be a public company shortly, we have another company where we invested at a rather later stage that in all likelihood will be a public company in the next 3 or 4 or 5 months, and then we have some opportunities that we've come across that are first round financings at very attractive valuations with very strong management teams, companies that have the opportunity to dominate their particular niche in the market. Now if the name iTech Capital is not a name that you're familiar with, you are probably not alone because the name has not been around for very long. Bill, the company has not only undergone a name change but a huge change in direction. It used to be pulling rocks out the ground, now you are talking about technology incubation. How did that transformation come about? Well we did. Formerly the company was Jordex Resources Inc, also listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and in 1996 Jordex sold all of its mining assets and generated 22 million Canadian in cash. For the next two years the management team, the mining management team, if you will, looked at opportunities and in late '98, early '99, I was introduced to the company. I entered into a consulting relationship and subsequently have become President, co-CEO and a director of the company. And basically the direction of the company, the opportunities were seen in the technology area and I was brought in to implement that strategy. So we've had a changeover of some of the mining management team, and directors that were in that area to a new management team that understands the private investment and the technology marketplace, and is very active and familiar in the United States. OK, getting back to the companies, the IPOs. I would imagine that you would do extensive due diligence in carrying out your investment strategy-how is this reflected in the investments that you've made so far, I believe you're about a half a dozen American companies? We have six investments to date, we do do a lot of due diligence, we also have entered into two strategic alliances, relationships with private equity firms. And those are the Argentum Group in New York City which has a large focus in their 280 million dollar funds on internet b2b, and MF Private Capital in Boston which is an investment affiliate of Manulife Capital and a focus of their investment activities is in telecommunications. So we share ideas, we share thoughts, we participate jointly in due diligence activities and, critical to us, is who our co-investment partners are. We typically have lined ourselves up with some very outstanding co-investment partners including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley and Chase. And that validates our due diligence process, if you will. It always helps to have that American financial muscle behind you, doesn't it. Indeed. OK, well thanks very much for being on the show Bill. Well thank-you very much for having me. OK, you're welcome. That's Bill Staudt, President and Chief Executive Officer of iTech Capital Corporation. The company trades on the TSE under the ticker ITE. This is Canada's Business Report.