Acquisition, Placing and Appointment of Directors
December 24 2009 - 8:14AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMBGT
RNS Number : 7337E
Bright Things plc
24 December 2009
Bright Things Plc
Acquisition, Placing and Appointment of Directors
Bright Things plc ("Bright Things" or "Company") is pleased to announce it has
conditionally agreed to acquire the entire issued share capital of Get On With
It Limited ("GOWIT") ("the Acquisition"), raise GBP500,000 of new working
capital for the Company ("the Subscription") and appoint a new non-executive
director.
Background to the Acquisition
In November 2007, the Company acquired CommonWorld Limited ("CommonWorld") which
owns the intellectual property underpinning the Company's SocialGO networking
product. At that time, CommonWorld entered into a services agreement with GOWIT
pursuant to which GOWIT agreed to provide development and support services to
Bright Things in relation to SocialGO. Under the terms of the Services
Agreement, the Company has been paying a monthly fee to GOWIT for its services,
including the employment costs of GOWIT employees. The services agreement
further provides that GOWIT is entitled to a royalty of 7.5 per cent. on all net
sales of SocialGO in excess of GBP2 million.
Terms of the Acquisition
The consideration for GOWIT is being satisfied by the issue of 34,999,999 new
ordinary shares of 1 penny each ("Ordinary Shares") which have an aggregate
value of GBP402,500 at the closing mid market price on 23 December 2009 of 1.15
pence ("Consideration Shares") and the grant of 41,625,000 warrants to subscribe
for Ordinary Shares, exercisable at a price of 1.25 pence per share ("Vendor
Warrants").
11,666,667 of the Consideration Shares will be allotted and issued to the
Vendors on completion ("Initial Consideration Shares"). The balance 23,333,332
Consideration Shares will be allotted and issued in four equal tranches on the
first four anniversaries of completion ("Deferred Consideration Shares"). In
certain circumstances, the Company will be able to reduce the amount of Deferred
Consideration Shares to be allotted and issued to satisfy any claim under the
warranties, indemnities or tax covenant contained within the acquisition
agreement.
11,666,667 of the Vendor Warrants will be granted and vest immediately upon
completion and are exercisable at any time during the 5-year period immediately
following their grant ("Initial Warrants"). The balance 29,958,333 Vendor
Warrants, which are otherwise granted on the same terms as the Initial Warrants,
will not vest or become exercisable until the first anniversary of completion
("Deferred Warrants").
In the event of a change of control of the Company or a voluntary winding-up,
allotment and issue of the Deferred Consideration Shares, and vesting of the
Deferred Warrants, will be accelerated.
The Acquisition is conditional, inter alia, on the passing of the resolutions
("Resolutions") to be proposed at a general meeting of the Company to be held on
11 January 2010 ("the General Meeting") and admission of the Initial
Consideration Shares to trading on AIM, which is expected to occur on 12 January
2010.
Details of the Subscription
Bentworth Holdings Limited, which trades as Veddis Ventures ("Veddis Ventures")
has conditionally agreed to subscribe for 40,000,000 new Ordinary Shares at a
price of 1.25 pence per share ("the Subscription Shares"). The Subscription is
conditional, inter alia, on the passing of the Resolutions and admission of the
Subscription Shares to trading on AIM. The net proceeds of the Subscription will
provide additional working capital for the Company as it moves forward with its
sales and marketing initiatives, particularly in the United States, where the
product has now been launched.
The terms of the Subscription Agreement provide that, for so long as it holds
not less than 4 per cent. of the issued share capital of the Company from time
to time, Veddis Ventures shall be entitled to appoint a non-executive director
to the board of Bright Things, provided such person is first approved by the
Board and the Company's nominated adviser. It is proposed that the first
non-executive director to be appointed by Bentworth shall be Mr Vikrant
Bhargava.
The Company has also agreed to grant to Veddis Ventures options to subscribe for
up to 15,000,000 new Ordinary Shares, vesting as to 250,000 shares per month
from admission of the Subscription Shares to trading on AIM, exercisable at a
price of 1.25 pence per new Ordinary Share which shall become exercisable in
respect of 3,000,000 Ordinary Shares per year on the first to fifth
anniversaries of grant, and 2,890,873 warrants to subscribe for Ordinary Shares
which are to be granted on the same terms as the Deferred Warrants described
above.
New Board members and Director Resignation
It is proposed that on completion of the Acquisition, Stephen Hardman and
Alexander Halliday, who are directors of GOWIT, will join the Board as joint
Managing Directors of the Company.
Stephen Hardman, aged 41, is currently a director of GOWIT and Adinway Property
Management Limited. Mr Hardman was previously a director within the last five
years of CommonWorld, Seckloe 377 Limited and Seckloe 383 Limited. Mr Hardman
resigned as a director of Motor Sport Developments Limited on 9 October 2003 and
that company entered into a company voluntary arrangement with creditors on 24
November 2003 which was completed on 8 January 2007. In addition Mr Hardman was
a director of MSD Special Vehicle Engineering Limited which was dissolved on 10
March 2007.
Alexander Myles Molyneux Halliday, aged 24, is currently a director of GOWIT and
Complete Creative Communications Limited. Mr Halliday was previously a director
within the last five years of CommonWorld and was also a director of Creative
Communication Limited which was dissolved on 4 March 2009.
As described above, subject to completion of the Subscription, Vikrant Bhargava
has agreed to join the Board as a non-executive director.
Mr Bhargava, aged 39, was a co-founder and the Group Marketing Director of
PartyGaming Plc, a company listed on the London Stock Exchange. He spearheaded
PartyPoker's growth from a start-up site in 2001 to the world's largest poker
room with revenues of circa US$ 1 billion in 2006.
Mr Bhargava stepped down from his role at PartyGaming in 2006 and has since been
involved with a number of projects as well as seeking interesting opportunities
mainly in the media, e-commerce and real estate sectors.He is also focused on
building LetzDream, a non-profit, self-sustaining platform to help organisations
engaged in social projects scale up by providing access to human and financial
capital.
Mr Bhargava is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (1994)
and the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (1996).
Mr Bhargava is currently a director of Muzicall Limited and within the previous
five years was a director of Bentworth Holdings Limited and PartyGaming Plc.
There is no other information that requires disclosure in accordance with
paragraph (g) of Schedule 2 of the AIM Rules for Companies
Upon joining the Board, Mr Hardman and Mr Halliday will be granted a total of
13,309,211 EMI Share Options, split as to 6,263,158 options to Mr Hardman and
7,046,053 options to Mr Halliday. In addition, it is proposed that certain other
employees of GOWIT, including Mr Ross Crawford, one of the Vendors, will receive
a total of 5,065,789 EMI Share Options. The EMI Share Options are exercisable at
a price of 4 pence per new Ordinary Share and will vest as to one third on the
second anniversary of grant, one third on the third anniversary of grant and one
third on the fourth anniversary of grant.
Finally, upon Mr Bhargava joining the Board, Matthew Tims will step down as
non-executive director.
Further Information
Bright Things PLC0845 299 7289
Dominic Wheatley, CEO
Edward Levey, Finance Director
Astaire Securities Plc 020 7448 4400
William Vandyk
www.brightthings.com
www.SocialGO.com
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
ACQBXBDDDBDGGCS
Bright Things (LSE:BGT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Nov 2024 to Dec 2024
Bright Things (LSE:BGT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Dec 2023 to Dec 2024