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Strategies & Market Trends : Speculating in Takeover Targets -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: richardred who wrote (2830)	8/30/2011 11:01:32 AM
From: richardred	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7254

Kodak Says Many Buyers Evaluating its Patents Kodak Says ‘Large Number’ of Buyers Evaluating its Patents Daniel Acker/Bloomberg Eastman Kodak Co., seeking to generate cash from its intellectual property, has signed confidentiality agreements with numerous potential buyers of patents it put up for sale last month, Chief Executive Officer Antonio Perez said. Eastman Kodak Co., seeking to generate cash from its intellectual property, has signed confidentiality agreements with numerous potential buyers of patents it put up for sale last month, Chief Executive Officer Antonio Perez said. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg Eastman Kodak Co. (EK), seeking to generate cash from its intellectual property, has signed confidentiality agreements with numerous potential buyers of patents it put up for sale last month, Chief Executive Officer Antonio Perez said. “At the moment we announced that, the phone started to ring,” Perez, 65, said yesterday in a telephone interview. Lazard LLC, Kodak’s adviser, has “contacted a large number of people. There are a number of people who signed their NDAs,” he said, referring to non-disclosure agreements protecting details about inventions covered by the patents. Kodak, headed for its sixth annual loss in the past seven years, is trying to generate cash for its inkjet printers and other digital businesses Perez is counting on to turn the company around. The U.S. International Trade Commission has delayed a ruling on Kodak’s attempts to win $1 billion in licensing fees from Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Research in Motion Ltd. (RIM) for image-preview technology used in cameras. Perez, CEO since 2005, said he’s seeking patent deals that give Kodak cash up front as well as preserve licensing rights to its technology. “All of this litigation takes a lot of time, and it’s very expensive and demands a lot of my time,” he said. “We would rather get an infusion of cash in advance, being able to have a series of relationships with many of those companies that otherwise we’d have to be in legal conflict with.” Kodak advanced 25 cents, or 8.2 percent, to $3.29 at 9:44 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Before today, the shares had tumbled 43 percent this year. 1,100 Patents The more than 1,100 patents Kodak put up for sale July 20 may generate more than $2 billion, according to MDB Capital Group, a Santa Monica, California-based investment bank specializing in intellectual property. “What we are selling is the part of the portfolio that does not apply to the core investments and the future of the company,” said Perez, who declined to disclose potential bidders and specifics of negotiations. He said Rochester, New York-based Kodak is trying to tap a “very hot” market for intellectual property. Google Inc. (GOOG), the biggest maker of smartphone software, agreed to buy Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. for $12.5 billion this month. Google had earlier bid for more than 6,000 Nortel Networks Corp. patents and applications, losing out to a $4.5 billion offer from a group including Apple, Research in Motion and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) “This is the right time,” Perez said. “The conversations are going. We are hoping quickly to get to a good conclusion.” bloomberg.com