OSLO, NORWAY--(Marketwired - Oct 9, 2015) - NEXT Biometrics Group ASA (
The company proposed to hold an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders to issue the shares for Greenbridge, which also will purchase 333,333 shares of NEXT, also at 60 Krone per share, from Ecomnex Holding AS, wholly-owned by NEXT Board member Ngoc Minh Dinh. In addition, for a one-time payment of 9.5 million NOK, NEXT said it will end its annual 5% gross margin royalty agreement with Dinh.
Tore Etholm-Idsoe, Chief Executive Officer of NEXT Biometrics, the leader in high-quality low-cost fingerprint sensors, said, "Greenbridge Partners Ltd., a privately held investment company founded by highly-respected investors Melker Schörling and Ola Rollén, has a deep knowledge of our industry and has undertaken a thorough process before making its investment decision. Greenbridge shares our long-term perspectives on the industry in general and NEXT in particular, and we are glad to welcome Greenbridge Partners Ltd. as a large shareholder. In the agreement we plan to also welcome a member of Greenbridge to our Board of Directors."
Etholm-Idsoe also thanked Dinh, adding, "On behalf of NEXT and its shareholders, I thank Dinh for reaching our new agreement since the royalty agreement was signed in a different environment and for purposes that are no longer deemed relevant."
NEXT Biometrics said that completion of the private placement by NEXT and the share acquisition from Dinh's Ecomnex is conditional upon the extraordinary general meeting of NEXT shareholders on or about November 2 to approve the Private Placement and appoint one representative of Greenbridge as a new member of the NEXT Board of Directors.
NEXT, which had 11.3 million shares outstanding at the end of the first half of 2015, explained that the Board of Directors considered the Private Placement as the best financing alternative and that there are sufficient reasons to deviate from the shareholders' pre-emption right to subscribe for the new shares, particularly based on the fact that no existing shareholders are participating in the Private Placement and that the subscription price is considerably above the current market price of NEXT shares yesterday, October 8, as well as above average market price of the shares during the recent period. Furthermore, the Board of Directors is of the view that the Company is not required to conduct a repair issue in connection with the Private Placement, and a repair issue will not be proposed.
About Greenbridge Partners: Greenbridge Partners is a privately-held investment company with a focus on technology in mature and emerging markets. Greenbridge Partners' strategy is to invest in a limited number of holdings combined with a long-term view. The ultimate objective is to develop its holdings to become number 1 or number 2 in respective industries. This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
About NEXT Biometrics: Enabled by its patented Active Thermal Principle, NEXT Biometrics, online at www.NEXTbiometrics.com, offers high quality area fingerprint sensor at low prices. A wide range of NEXT products format including Smartphones, tablets, PC's, doors, time registration systems, payment terminals, flashdrives, USB-tokens, keyfobs and many more are targeted. NEXT Biometrics Group ASA is a publicly-listed company headquartered in Oslo, Norway and with sales, support and development subsidiaries in Seattle, Silicon Valley, Taipei, Prague and Shanghai. For more information contact for NEXT Biometrics CEO Tore Etholm-Idsøe, at +47 922 32 439 and Tore.Idsoe@NEXTbiometrics.com.
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Brian Dobson
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