VGCP - This just came out on Stockwatch:
Viking Capital Group, Inc.
RESEARCH INVESTMENT GROUP ANNOUNCES:
REVOLUTIONARY E-COMMERCE SYSTEM DEVELOPED BY VIKING CAPITAL GROUP, INC.
("VGCP" OTC - BB) TO SERVE THE INSURANCE, BANKING AND FINANCIAL
SERVICES/BROKERAGE INDUSTRIES IS NOW OPERATIONAL !!
VIKING CAPITAL GROUP, INC. ("VGCP" on OTC - BB)
5420 LBJ Freeway, Two Lincoln Centre, Suite 300
Dallas, Texas 75240
Phone: (972) 386 - 9996 * Fax: (972) 386 - 7864
Website: vcgi.com
Viking Capital Group is also close to announcing successful negotiation of
a US$250+ million financing that will be applied to acquire a portfolio of
operating life insurance companies. Upon restructuring, these assets would
be capable of generating over US$56.8 million per year in net income !!
WHO IS VIKING CAPITAL?
Viking Capital Group, Inc. ("Viking Capital" or the "Company") is set to
become the nation's premiere provider of specialized administration and
data processing services to insurance companies, banks and self-insured
employee benefit programs. Using its proprietary large-scale, web-based
(Internet) transaction and information technology, Viking Capital is able
to provide superior customer service to its clients at significant cost
savings.
In January 1999, Viking Capital introduced a revolutionary e-commerce
system integrating insurance products, traditional banking services and an
array of financial / brokerage offerings.
The Company plans to acquire life insurance companies, and provide a full
array of insurance products and banking / trading services via the
Internet. Viking Capital's strategic goal is to acquire US$1.5 billion in
insurance-managed assets through the purchase of existing life insurance
companies during 1999. Post-acquisition, Viking Capital will out-source the
portfolio management of the acquired companies, with expected increases in
the average net investment yields of at least 200 to 300 basis points.
Viking Capital's sustainable, long-term competitive advantage is its
large-scale, Internet-based transaction and information technology
developed over the past five years at a cost of nearly US$10 million. The
Viking System, which is now fully-operational, provides superior customer
service and cost-reduction capabilities that are years ahead of and far
beyond the monetary and / or technological capabilities of Viking's clients
and potential competitors.
Following nearly twenty years of steadily declining profits and escalating
costs, the insurance industry is on the verge of a major restructuring.
Viking Capital is positioned to make money off of the insurance industry's
need to cut costs by offering administrative and data management services
on an outsourcing basis; with the Viking system, smaller insurance
companies will be able to achieve comparable economies of scale to their
larger competitors while remaining independent. However, these outsourcing
operations are just a small part of Viking's business. Viking Capital plans
to operate as a vertically-integrated insurance company where the
traditional sectors of a life insurance company - administration,
marketing, data processing and financial services - are handled by
separate, wholly-owned business units run as independent profit centers
(instead of cost centers). Viking Capital plans to grow its
insurance-related business lines rapidly, primarily through acquisitions of
companies and books of business.
The Company's President & CEO, William J. Fossen, has already guided the
Company through the purchase of an insurance marketing company and a policy
administration company, and he is now looking at other potential targets on
the life side.
Prior to acquiring Viking Capital in 1989, Mr. Fossen was part of an
executive team that grew Life Investors Insurance Company from a small
Iowa-based firm into a national company with US$10.5 billion of insurance
in force and US$1.2 billion of managed assets. Commensurate with its growth
through a series of acquisitions, Life Investors' share price rose from its
historic US$2 - US$3 range, ultimately bringing shareholders a US$36 /
share cash buyout from a major European conglomerate.
Information regarding Viking Capital Group's stellar management team, Board
of Directors and Advisory Board may be found at vcgi.com.
News releases, chronicling the company's rapid growth over the past year
may be found at vcgi.com.
SHARE STRUCTURE & TRADING PRICES
(as of January 2, 1999)
Shares Issued: 26.5 million
52-week high: US$1.38
Float: 8.7 million
52-week low: US$0.13
Current bid / ask: US$0.62 by US$0.72
Last trade (1-15-99): US$0.72
Of the 26.5 million shares currently outstanding, officers, directors and
insiders hold approximately 27%, with the Fossen family holding
approximately 15% of Viking Capital. William Fossen, the Company's
President & CEO, personally controls the Company's management and the Board
of Directors via 100% ownership of Viking Capital's Class B stock, which
can elect a majority of the directors.
Viking Capital is fully-reporting company with the SEC, and has over 1,000
shareholders. The Company began trading on the OTC BB on January 20, 1995.
Research Investment Group estimates that out of the approximately 8.7
million shares in the public float, only about three million shares are
actively traded, with the balance being held by long-term investors.
For additional information on the Company's capital structure, please see:
vcgi.com
Stock quotes and recent news about Viking Capital are available through
Yahoo!Finance at: quote.yahoo.com
HOW VIKING CAPITAL WILL GENERATE REVENUES & OPERATING PROFITS
Viking Capital will generate revenues from several wholly-owned operating
subsidiaries.
Viking Insurance Services, Inc. markets, sells and services insurance,
specializing in the "Viking Travel Plan", a very profitable, short-term,
combined health / life / accident policy ultimately to be sold through
airport kiosks and travel agencies to foreigners traveling in the United
States.
Though no longer a wholly-owned subsidiary of Viking Capital, Triple A
Annuity Marketing, Inc. has agreed to market any of the Company's A-rated
purchased life insurance products via its network of 3,000+ general agents
who have written in excess of US$25 million of annualized premiums and
represent an excellent distribution system in place for distributing
current and future Company products and services.
Viking Financial Services, Inc. currently provides corporate strategic and
financial consulting on a fee basis. Viking Systems, Inc. provides all of
the Company's MIS needs as well as providing for-profit data processing
services for other client insurance companies, employee benefit plans and
insurance-related operations for banks.
Viking Administrators, Inc. and NIAI Insurance Administrators, Inc. provide
all of Viking Capital Life Insurance's administrative needs, while
generating profits by providing administration services for other client
insurance companies under long-term contracts.
Viking Capital has launched an aggressive sales and marketing program to
develop two new revenue sources / profit centers: First, Viking Capital has
targeted over 1,000 smaller and mid-sized insurance companies and banks,
with the goal of taking over their data processing and administration needs
as it pertains to insurance-type products. On the marketing side of the
business, once the Company has purchased its first life insurance company,
Viking Capital will be in a position to provide other insurance companies
with the ability to sell their selected insurance products through Viking
Capital Life Insurance Company, so long as Viking Capital also contracts
for their administration and data processing.
VIKING'S NEW E-COMMERCE SYSTEM FOR FINANCIAL, BANKING & INSURANCE SERVICES
In January 1999, Viking Capital unveiled a revolutionary new e-commerce
system, designed by its wholly-owned subsidiary Viking Systems Inc., to
serve the banking, insurance and brokerage industries. Using the Viking
system, consumers will have the ability to enter a single web site and
access multiple accounts from multiple financial institutions on a 24 hour
per day, 7 day a week basis (the news release can be viewed at
vcgi.com ).
Viking Capital's e-commerce system links consumers / clients to a summary
of their financial information on a single screen from different financial
institutions, such as banks, insurance companies, securities firms and
individual employee benefit plans. This in turn allows access to each
account for on-line transactions at each financial institution.
For example, if the user's financial institutions are part of the Company's
network, and a consumer's bank account, insurance company account, employee
benefits account and / or brokerage account are with those same
institution(s), then the consumer can get all of their financial
information from one screen instead of going to several separate web sites.
Banking, insurance , investments and employee benefits are among the
services targeted for integration under the Viking e-commerce system.
Viking Capital has created a unique e-commerce opportunity - offering
unprecedented convenience, security, speed and reliability. This new
e-commerce system is going to be very hard for anyone to duplicate, and as
we have seen in recent years among Internet service companies, the dominant
market share (and resulting stock market valuations) stays with whomever is
first to market with a working product. Also, Viking's e-commerce system
provides today what the merger of Citicorp / CitiBank and Travelers
Insurance hopes to offer a few years down the road: vertically-integrated,
one-stop shopping for banking, investment and insurance services.
Viking Capital has begun marketing its new e-commerce system to potential
clients, and the reaction has been very positive. The financial service
providers whom the Company is talking to understand the value of giving
their customers a greater level of convenience than they can obtain
anywhere else.
UNIVERSAL IP
In April 1998, the Company unveiled "Universal IP", a revolutionary,
state-of-the-art, Internet-based, data management service (using a private,
secure and lightening-fast fiber optic network) for insurance firms.
Universal IP links policy-holders and agents to each other via the
Internet, allowing policy-holders to access account information and
transact business at any time of the day or night. Viking Capital's
Universal IP provides simple, user-friendly, point-and-click access to
real-time policy holder services and financial information. Through Viking
System's partners, consumers can also access a wide range of personalized
banking and investment services tailored to their individual needs.
With this service, smaller and mid-tier insurance companies are able to
significantly improve their competitive positioning against larger
competitors. Because Universal IP will be marketed as a turnkey
(outsourcing) service, client companies will not incur the high overhead
associated with internal development projects to create the middleware
software required to connect an Internet site to a company's existing
account management systems.
Universal IP is fully-Y2K compliant!
TWO STRATEGIC ALLIANCES TO DELIVER THE PRODUCTS & SERVICES
How does Viking Capital plan to integrate client employee benefit plans and
other insurance companies into its systems onto the Internet?
First, Viking Capital has signed a strategic alliance with Transaction
Information Systems, Inc. ("TIS") to develop the technical architecture
that will allow Viking to place all of its databases and its customers on
the Internet. Each corporate account contracted with the Company will be
integrated by TIS, who has over 500 technical employees nationwide. Also,
TIS will integrate the databases of Viking Capital's purchased insurance
companies and its corporate clients, as well as servicing web sites for
Viking Capital and the Company's clients worldwide.
Data transportation services and cable installations (all the way to the
desk top) will be provided by iXNet, a high quality, private fiber optic
network offering secure, high-speed audio, video and data transmissions.
iXNet has over 800 technical employees and serves all of the world's major
financial centers, connecting markets and trading companies around the
world to each other and their customers.
Further information on TIS and iXNet can be found at tisny.com
and ixnet.com
VIKING CAPITAL's BUSINESS STRATEGY HAS NO COMPETITION
No real competition exists in the revolutionary new business arena being
developed by Viking Capital.
Until now, only a few companies have offered insurance data processing /
administration services on an outsourcing basis. Viking Capital, however,
has taken this concept and wrapped it in 21st-century technology,
positioning the Company several years ahead of its peers and potential
competitors.
Viking Capital, through its new and exclusive administration and data
processing systems (including video capabilities and web-based transactions
for insurance, banking and securities trading) allows self-insured employee
benefit plans and banks to offer insurance products and employee benefit
plan payroll services, through the company within existing banking
regulations without excessive overhead and allows insurance companies the
ability to out-source their current data processing and / or administration
at a reduced cost because of the Company's superior economies of scale. In
each case, the Company's corporate customers will be able to allow their
individual account holder to access their account via the Internet
utilizing the Viking Systems Network. Viking Capital is also able to offer
complete telecommunications services (including unified billing) to all its
customers.
On the acquisition side, there is also no direct competition.
Only a limited number of Viking Capital's competitors specialize in growth
by acquisition. However, these are exclusively large firms that are
concentrating on assets in the US$1+ billion range. Viking Capital's niche
is purchasing insurance companies with assets of less than US$500 million
(est'd purchase prices of US$20 - US$125 million) - no one else is
targeting that market segment.
MOST-RECENT FINANCING
On December 23, 1998 Viking Capital announced a US$2.5 million private
placement of restricted common shares; this financing closed on December
31st. The news release can be viewed at vcgi.com.
TWO MAJOR FINANCINGS (US$25 MM & US$250+ MM) NEARING COMPLETION
Within the next 45 days, Viking Capital expects to close on approximately
US$25 million in State Industrial Development Funding. This money will be
used for purchasing an administrative work facility of about 300,000 square
feet, to pay for the hiring and training of approximately 1,200 new
employees, as well as the purchase of required computer equipment for the
Company's operations.
Viking Capital's management hopes to announce its Phase III financing by
the end of March; negotiations are currently in progress with a private
investment company concerning the terms and structure of a US$250 million
private convertible preferred stock offering. These funds will be applied
to the Company's acquisition of six operating life insurance companies
pursuant to Viking Capital's strategic plan.
LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY ACQUISITION TARGETS
Viking Capital is proposing to purchase six life insurance companies to
reach its immediate goal of US$1.5 billion in managed insurance assets. Two
such companies have been targeted for purchase immediately upon completion
of the Phase III acquisition financing (US$250 million). Management has
identified several other targets that are available.
Acquisition target #1 specializes in accident & health insurance, operates
in 31 states, has a portfolio of US$115 million, collects US$49 million in
premium income - yet earned less than US$1.8 million in 1997 (post-tax).
The second acquisition target specializes in disability income, operates in
47 states, has a portfolio of US$403 million, collects US$55 million in
premium income - yet earned less than US$5.7 million during fiscal 1997
(post-tax).
Pro-forma financial statements prepared by Viking Capital indicate that the
six proposed acquisitions would generate an estimated US$56.8 million in
combined profits.
Assuming that a total of 50 million shares of VGCP are issued and
outstanding following completion of these deals, net income would be on the
order of US$1.14 per share. Applying an industry-average P/E multiple of 16
suggests an equity market valuation of over US$18 - just on the earnings
from the first six operating life insurance company acquisitions!
GROUND-FLOOR OPPORTUNITY FOR INVESTORS (WITH TREMENDOUS UPSIDE POTENTIAL)
Viking Capital Group, Inc. has all of the ingredients for success:
excellent management, diverse products, a sound business plan,
revolutionary technology that is available TODAY, and the financial ability
to make everything happen. Viking Capital has met every corporate goal and
performance objective that they have set over the last several years -
something that we do not see very often. Viking Capital's ability to
consistently accomplish what it says it will (when it will) makes us firm
believers in Viking's business plan / strategy, growth objectives and the
high probability of major financial success in the months and years to
come. We expect Viking Capital's stock to do very well in the future.
>From a technical standpoint, we believe that Viking Capital is on the verge
of a major breakout. As market awareness of the new e-commerce system
increases, the stock should move much higher. With the successful
completion of the Phase II funding and announcements regarding the US$250
million Phase III financing during 1Q 1999, Viking Capital could
potentially be trading in the US$8 to US$12 range.
For more information, please contact:
William J. Fossen - President & CEO
Matthew W. Fossen - Chief Financial Officer
Phone: (972) 386 - 9996
e-mail: mailto:viking@vcgi.com
Disclaimer
RESEARCH INVESTMENT GROUP is not a Registered Investment Advisor or a
Broker / Dealer. This communication reflects opinions from Viking Capital
Group, Inc. Readers are advised that this electronic publication is issued
solely for information purposes and is not to be construed as an offer to
sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy.
The opinions and analysis included herein are based on sources believed to
be reliable and in good faith but no representation or warranty, expressed
or implied, is made as to their accuracy, completeness or correctness. This
information is not intended to be used as the sole basis of any investment
decisions, nor should it be construed as advice designed to meet the
investment needs of any particular investor. The foregoing discussion
contains forward-looking statements which are based on current expectations
and differences can be expected. The information contained herein has been
provided by the Company to RESEARCH INVESTMENT GROUP for information
purposes only; in addition, the information contained in this report is not
intended to be a complete discussion of information regarding some of the
current and/or intended business activities of the Company.
Readers are urged to consult with independent financial advisors with
respect to an investment in the shares mentioned herein. Investors should
review a complete information package on Viking Capital Group, Inc. (the
"Company"), which should include, but not be limited to, the Company's
annual report, quarterly report, press releases, as well as all regulatory
filings. All information contained in this report should be independently
verified with the Company mentioned herein. Any opinions expressed in this
report are statements of judgment as of the date of publication and are
subject to change without further notice, and may not necessarily be
reprinted in future publications or elsewhere. Neither RESEARCH INVESTMENT
GROUP nor its officers, directors, partners or employees / consultants
accept no liability whatsoever for any direct or consequential loss arising
from any use of this report or its contents.
The company has paid RESEARCH INVESTMENT GROUP a retainer fee of 120,000
free-trading common shares of Viking Capital Group plus US$5,000 cash per
month for consulting services including, but not limited to, project
analysis, assisting in locating funding sources as well as evaluating and
reporting on projects the Company may have acquired or seek to acquire in
the future. Prior to RESEARCH INVESTMENT GROUP disseminating this
information, Viking Capital Group reviewed and approved the contents
hereof.
RESEARCH INVESTMENT GROUP, its officers, directors, partners and employees
/ consultants may profit in the event the shares of the Company increase in
value. These positions may be liquidated from time to time even after
RESEARCH INVESTMENT GROUP, its officers, directors, partners and employees
/ consultants have made positive comments on the Company.
THE READER SHOULD VERIFY ALL CLAIMS AND DO THEIR OWN DUE DILIGENCE BEFORE
INVESTING IN ANY SECURITIES MENTIONED. INVESTING IN SECURITIES IS
SPECULATIVE AND CARRIES A HIGH DEGREE OF RISK.
We encourage the reader to review the investing information available with
the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") at sec.gov
and / or the National Association of Securities Dealers ("NASD") at
nasdr.com . Readers can review all public
filings by the Company at the SEC's EDGAR page. The NASD has published
information on how to invest carefully at its website.
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