Synchronica Completes iseemed

RNS Number : 3520U

Synchronica PLC

14 October 2010

 



14 October 2010

Synchronica plc

Synchronica completes acquisition of iseemedia

Highlights

·     iseemedia Inc acquired, bid closed.

·     Total funds raised of CAD 7.13m.

·     Listing in Toronto (TSXV) complements existing London (AIM) listing.

·     Adds large operator customers in India.

·     Enhances product with advanced patented document transcoding technology.

Synchronica plc ("Synchronica" or "the Company"), the international provider of push email, instant messaging and social networking services, announces that it has completed its acquisition of competitor iseemedia Inc. ("iseemedia"). The acquisition adds contracts with large mobile operators in India, extending the contracted addressable market to 853 million subscribers and will enhance Synchronica's product with the integration of iseemedia's patented document transcoding technology. Synchronica has also successfully obtained additional funding of CAD 7.13m, and has listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSXV) complementing the listing on the London Stock Exchange (AIM). The transaction represents a key step in Synchronica's aim of becoming the leader in next-generation mobile messaging in high-growth emerging markets.

On July 22, 2010, Synchronica launched a take-over bid for all the common shares and common share purchase warrants of iseemedia (the "Bid") and has to date acquired 86% of iseemedia's ordinary shares. The Bid has now closed, and all conditions to the Bid were either satisfied or waived. All shares and share purchase warrants tendered to the bid have been taken up by Synchronica to complete the acquisition. Prior to its acquisition, iseeemedia paid off all its debt and sold its RealBiz360 Inc subsidiary. Synchronica will acquire the remaining 14% of iseemedia's ordinary shares, on the same terms as before, using a statutory process. This is expected to be completed before 31st December 2010.

In order to fund the combined business, Synchronica raised funding of GBP 1.7m from London and CAD 3m from Toronto. Also iseemedia sold its interest in RealBiz360 Inc subsidiary, raising an additional CAD 1.5m, resulting in a total of CAD 7.13m additional funds for the combined business. 

The Company's ordinary shares have been accepted for listing on the TSXV, as a secondary listing to Synchronica's existing listing on the AiM market of the London Stock Exchange.

The acquisition bolsters Synchronica 's market leadership in next generation mobile messaging in emerging markets, where broadband infrastructure is often outdated or simply unavailable, and very few households own a personal computer.  By acquiring iseemedia, Synchronica gains additional contracts with large mobile operators, expanding the Company's reach into the high growth region of India - the second largest mobile market worldwide. Synchronica now has a contracted addressable market of 853 million subscribers.

The acquisition also strengthens Synchronica's award-winning Mobile Gateway product through the integration of iseemedia's advanced patented "iseedocs" document transcoding engine.  Planned for integration in time for Mobile World Congress 2011, iseedocs will enhance Mobile Gateway's Email attachment handling with streaming attachments directly to the users mobile phone, enabling mobile operators to reduce their network bandwidth consumption by up to 90%.

Commenting on the completed transaction, Carsten Brinkschulte, CEO of Synchronica, said: "By completing our acquisition of iseemedia, Synchronica is now positioned to become the market leader for next generation mobile messaging in high-growth emerging markets. We are encouraged by the success of our fund raising activities, which is an endorsement of Synchronica's strategy. With our additional listing in Toronto, we look forward to welcoming North American investors keen on investing in our innovative growing company."

Enquiries:

Synchronica plc www.synchronica.com	Carsten Brinkschulte, CEO Angus Dent, CFO Nicole Meissner, COO	[phone] [phone] [phone]
iseemedia Inc.	David Berman, CFO	[phone]
finnCap	Clive Carver , Nomad Charlotte Stranner, Corporate Finance Stephen Norcross, Corporate Broker	[phone] [phone] [phone]
Walbrook PR Ltd	Paul McManus	[phone] [phone] [e-mail]

About Synchronica plc

Synchronica plc is a leading developer of next-generation mobile messaging solutions based on open industry standards. The award-winning product portfolio includes the flagship product Mobile Gateway, providing push Email, synchronization, instant messaging (IM), backup and restore, and mobile connectivity to social networks. Synchronica's products are white-labelled and offered by mobile operators and device manufacturers in emerging and developed markets to provide mass market messaging services, increasing data revenues and reducing churn.

Synchronica Mobile Gateway provides a unique multi-protocol gateway combining Push IMAP, SyncML, ActiveSync, Email-to-MMS, and Email-to-SMS, delivering messaging services to literally any mobile phone currently in the market without requiring an additional client to be downloaded. Expanding instant messaging to mobile devices, Mobile Gateway establishes carrier-branded IM communities, using the industry standard XMPP and provides gateways to popular internet IM communities, connecting any IMPS-enabled handset.

Headquartered in England, Synchronica also maintains development centres in Germany and the Philippines in addition to a regional presence in the USA, Hong Kong, Madrid and Dubai. Synchronica plc is a public company traded on the AIM list of the London Stock Exchange (SYNC.L). For further information, please visit www.synchronica.com.

About iseemedia Inc

iseemedia Inc. is a mobile software company focused on the commercialization of a Service Delivery Platform (iseemail TM) for delivering push Email services to the mass market and an advanced Content Delivery Platform (iseedocs TM) for rich media adaptation and extremely cost-efficient network delivery to mobile devices.

The Company maintains a broad portfolio of issued and pending patents that cover content authoring, streaming and interactive viewing on mobile devices. iseemedia was founded in March 2002 and has been traded on the TSXV in Toronto since June 2005.

For more information, please visit: www.iseemedia.com.

Forward-Looking Statements: This news release includes certain forward-looking statements that are based upon current expectations, which involve risks and uncertainties associated with Synchronica's business and the environment in which those businesses operate. Any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking, including those identified by the expressions "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "intend", and similar expressions to the extent they relate to either Synchronica or its management. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts, but reflect Synchronica's current expectations regarding future results or events. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations, including the matters discussed in Section 8 (under the heading "Risk Factors Related to the Offer") of the Circular contained in the take-over bid circular dated July 22, 2010 filed with respect to the Bid at www.sedar.com, as amended pursuant to related notices filed at www.sedar.com.  Synchronica assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements.

 

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