Acquisition

Cohen(A.) & Co PLC 12 December 2002 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 12 DECEMBER 2002 A. COHEN & CO. PLC ('A. Cohen' or the 'Company') A. COHEN ACQUIRES 30% OF ROO MEDIA EUROPE A. Cohen has today issued 900,000 fully paid ordinary shares of 20 pence each in the capital of the Company at 20 pence per share to ROO Media Corporation ('ROO Media'), a media syndication company incorporated in Delaware in the USA, representing a total consideration of £180,000. The issue of these shares in A. Cohen is consideration to ROO Media for the transfer of 30 per cent. of the capital of Plantgate Limited, a newly incorporated shell to be renamed ROO Media Europe Limited ('ROO Media Europe'). The balance of the capital of ROO Media Europe is held by ROO Media. ROO Media has granted ROO Media Europe an exclusive 5 year licence to operate the business of ROO Media in Europe including the right to sell, syndicate and operate the full range of ROO Media products and services of content syndication and supply of streaming video, services for the reproduction of video content on the internet and advertising services on the ROOtv internet video portal as well as future content developments of ROO Media on portals in the UK and Europe, as appropriate. The terms of the licence provide ROO Media Europe with a revenue percentage of all ROO Media revenues from the UK and Europe. As a result of negotiations, the Company has a call option to acquire the 75 per cent. of the capital of ROO Media which is currently held by Mr Robert Petty, CEO of both ROO Media and ROO Media Europe. The Company may exercise this option at any time up to 30 June 2003, with settlement within 60 days thereafter, by the issue of 45 million fully paid ordinary shares of 20p each in the capital of the Company. As part of this major diversification into media Robert Petty and Michael Neistat have been appointed as non-executive directors to the Board of A. Cohen today. Neither Robert Petty nor Michael Neistat have entered into service agreements with either the Company or ROO Media Europe, but both parties will maintain their existing consultancy arrangements with ROO Media. The directors expect to convene an extraordinary general meeting by early February to approve the terms and implementation of the equity line arrangements announced on 1 November 2002. They will also report further on the ROO Media operations and other businesses of the company including the investments in ATMs, Scott Tod Developments Limited, Money Products International Limited, the metals businesses of Jacob Metals and Phosphor copper and the investment in the Woolwich site. Royce Ritchie, the Executive Chairman, of A. Cohen, commented: 'This further diversification is in line with our commitment to shareholders to broaden the base of the Company's activities. The supply and delivery of broadband content is a rapidly developing need in the media industry throughout the world and we see tremendous opportunities to provide a high quality service to the major media Groups both in the UK and Europe.' For further information please contact Royce Ritchie 00 61 3 9827 9804 Executive Chairman, A Cohen & Co PLC Brian Coleman-Smith / Amanda Sheehy 020 7398 3300 Beattie Financial Background note: ROO Media Corporation. ('ROO Media') is a Media Syndication company, which syndicates licensed tier one video content to multiple web sites utilizing its technology platform which provides management, distribution, syndication and publishing of video over the Internet. ROO Media's content solutions provide a cost effective, seamless solution to clients wishing to activate video content on their web sites. ROO Media's business model and solutions have an established track record in the media broadcast industry where ROO Media is establishing itself as a leading solution for syndication of video content over the Internet. ROO Media is a private USA Delaware corporation formed in 2001. ROO Media's head office is in New York though, through its 100% owned subsidiary ROO Media Aust Pty Ltd, bases a portion of its operations in Australia whereby it leverages of the lower Australian currency and time difference to conduct a large portion of the management of data for its global customers. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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