BIO-key Signs Agreement to Acquire Aether Mobile Government Division
16 8월 2004 - 11:38PM
PR Newswire (US)
BIO-key Signs Agreement to Acquire Aether Mobile Government
Division Combined Companies Will Be The Largest U.S. Provider Of
Wireless Information Solutions For Law Enforcement And Public
Safety Markets MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
BIO-key International, Inc. (OTC:BKYI) (BULLETIN BOARD: BKYI) , a
leader in finger-based biometric identification and wireless public
safety solutions, today announced that that it has signed a
definitive agreement to buy Aether's Mobile Government Division
(NASDAQ:AETH) for $10 million in cash. Completion of the sale is
subject to customary closing conditions. "Aether's Mobile
Government Division's (AMG) revenues based on the last two quarters
performance have an annualized run rate of approximately $19
million, making it the market leader of wireless data services in
the United States," said Tom Colatosti, BIO-key's Chairman. "The
market and technology fit between BIO-key and Aether is
extraordinary -- we could not imagine a better match between any
two companies. We are thrilled with the opportunity to service
their more than 2500 loyal customers and work with them to continue
to help them cost effectively meet their security needs with new
wireless and biometric applications." AMG solutions are currently
deployed in state and local police, fire and rescue and emergency
medical services organizations and are fully integrated into 47
different state information databases, as well as local and federal
databases. AMG focuses its products in law enforcement areas around
mobile data collection and reporting, cross agency data sharing on
federal, state and local levels. The estimated potential includes
nearly one million officers, supported by hundreds of thousands of
vehicles across 18,000 agencies in the United States alone.
Additionally the market opportunity for fire departments and EMS
services is approximately 31,000 agencies and 75,000 vehicles.
BIO-key's strategic partnerships with HP, Oracle, ChoicePoint,
AutoDesk and Netegrity powerfully extend the market reach of the
combined companies. Included in the acquisition is net working
capital of $4.5 million and the assumption of $10.75 million of
certain customer performance guarantees backed by letters of
credits and performance bonds. BIO-key believes all these
guarantees can be replaced with less than one million dollars of
cash from the company. The transaction will be financed with the
company's existing cash resources and new debt. Mike DePasquale,
BIO-key CEO, added, "AMG has a great tradition of innovation and
excellence, with roots from Cerulean and Sunpro both industry
leaders, respectively, in law enforcement and fire services
markets. We believe we can achieve significant short and long term
growth from the base of this combined $25-$30 million annualized
run-rate business because of the synergies we have combining our
existing strategic partnerships, our combined professional and
talented employees and the huge available market for security and
biometrics products and services. With the acquisition of AMG, we
have the opportunity to more cost effectively and creatively
develop technology and products and more effectively integrate and
deploy our sales and marketing resources." In a joint statement,
Colatosti and DePasquale said that they believe the acquisition
will be accretive to revenues and earnings beginning in the fourth
quarter of 2004. Further, they added their belief that the combined
company would be cash flow positive one quarter after the first
full quarter following the closing. About BIO-key BIO-key develops
and delivers advanced identification solutions and information
services to law enforcement departments, public safety agencies,
governments and private sector customers. BIO-key's mobile wireless
technology provides first responders with critical, reliable real
time data and images from local, state and national databases.
BIO-key's high performance, scalable, cost effective and easy to
deploy biometric finger identification technology accurately
identifies and authenticates users of wireless and enterprise data
to improve security, convenience and privacy as well as reducing
identity theft. (http://www.bio-key.com/) About Aether Systems
Aether Systems provides mobile and wireless data services to
businesses in the transportation industry and to government
agencies and departments through its two operating units,
Transportation and Mobile Government. Aether has agreed to sell
both of these operations and implement a new business strategy in
which it will focus on building and managing a leveraged portfolio
of residential mortgage-backed securities.
(http://www.aethersystems.com/) BIO-key Safe Harbor Statement This
news release contains forward-looking statements that are subject
to certain risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to
differ materially from those projected on the basis of these
statements. The words "estimate," "project," "intends," "expects,"
"believes" and similar expressions are intended to identify
forward-looking statements. Such forward- looking statements are
made based on management's beliefs, as well as assumptions made by,
and information currently available to, management pursuant to the
"safe-harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. For a more complete description of these and
other risk factors that may affect the future performance of
BIO-key International, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual
Report on Form 10-KSB and its other filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue
reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as
of the date made. The Company also undertakes no obligation to
disclose any revision to these forward-looking statements to
reflect events or circumstances after the date made or to reflect
the occurrence of unanticipated events. For more information
contact: Albert Maruggi 612-325-8126 DATASOURCE: BIO-key
International, Inc. CONTACT: Albert Maruggi for BIO-key
International, Inc., +1-612-325-8126 or Web site:
http://www.bio-key.com/ http://www.aethersystems.com/
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