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Buzz Capital 2 Inc. Announces Proposed Qualifying Transaction with Equispheres Inc.

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Stifel GMP and INFOR Financial Engaged to Co-Lead Concurrent Private Placement

Ottawa, Ontario–(Newsfile Corp. – May 14, 2021) – Buzz Capital 2 Inc. (TSXV: BUZH.P.) (the “Company” or “Buzz 2“), a capital pool company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (the “TSXV“), is pleased to announce that it has entered into a letter of intent dated May 14, 2021 (the “LOI“) with Equispheres Inc. and Equispheres Holdings Inc. (collectively, “Equispheres“) to complete a going-public transaction in Canada for Equispheres (the “Proposed Transaction“).

Equispheres specializes in the development and production of high-performance metal powders for additive manufacturing. Equispheres’ core intellectual property advantage is centered around its proprietary, patent-pending, spherical powder which prints four times faster and achieves cost reductions of up to 50% enabling additive manufacturing technology to compete economically with traditional manufacturing processes.

Equispheres Inc. was incorporated under the Canada Business Corporations Act on February 18, 2014 and was subsequently amalgamated with 11832174 Canada Inc. on March 2, 2020. Equispheres Holdings Inc. was incorporated on January 8, 2020 under the Canada Business Corporations Act.

It is intended that the Proposed Transaction will proceed by way of an amalgamation of Equispheres with a wholly-owned subsidiary of Buzz 2 (“Buzz 2 Subco“) pursuant to the terms of a definitive agreement to be entered into by Buzz 2, Buzz 2 Subco and Equispheres (the “Definitive Agreement“). For convenience, Buzz 2, as it will exist after completion of the Proposed Transaction, is sometimes referred to herein as the “Resulting Issuer“.

Buzz 2 intends that the Proposed Transaction will constitute its “Qualifying Transaction” under Policy 2.4 – Capital Pool Companies of the TSXV.

Summary of the Proposed Transaction

For purposes of the Proposed Transaction, the expected value of each outstanding common share of Buzz 2 (each, a “Buzz Share“) will be $0.147 (on a pre-consolidation basis). Pursuant to the Proposed Transaction it is intended that: (i) the outstanding Buzz Shares will be consolidated on the basis of one post-consolidation Buzz Share for each ten pre-consolidation Buzz Shares (the “Consolidation“); and (ii) the holders of shares in the capital of Equispheres (each, an “Equispheres Share“) (including those investors in the Concurrent Financing (as defined below)) will receive shares in the capital of the Resulting Issuer in exchange for each outstanding Equispheres Share on a ratio to be determined based on the price per subscription receipt under the Concurrent Financing (the “Exchange Ratio“). The outstanding options of Buzz 2 will be adjusted accordingly to reflect the Consolidation. In addition, all outstanding incentive stock options of Equispheres will be exchanged for incentive stock options of the Resulting Issuer on equivalent terms after giving effect to all of the transactions contemplated in connection with the Proposed Transaction.

Following the completion of the Proposed Transaction, the securityholders of Equispheres (including those investors under the Concurrent Financing) will hold a significant majority of the outstanding common shares of the Resulting Issuer.

A comprehensive press release with further particulars relating to the Proposed Transaction and the Resulting Issuer will follow in accordance with the policies of the TSXV.

Completion of the Proposed Transaction is subject to a number of conditions including, but not limited to: (i) completion of satisfactory due diligence; (ii) execution of the Definitive Agreement; (iii) receipt of regulatory approvals; (iv) acceptance of the Proposed Transaction as Buzz 2’s Qualifying Transaction by the TSXV; (v) receipt of approval for the listing of the common shares of the Resulting Issuer; (vi) the approval of the Proposed Transaction by the requisite majority of Equispheres shareholders; and (vii) the approval of various matters related to the Proposed Transaction by the requisite majority of Buzz 2 shareholders, including the appointment of a new slate of directors nominated by Equispheres, subject to the completion of the Proposed Transaction, and if applicable pursuant to the requirements of the TSXV, majority of the minority shareholder approval. Where applicable, the Proposed Transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained.

In connection with the Proposed Transaction, Buzz 2 intends to change its name to “Equispheres Inc.” and to replace all directors and officers of Buzz 2 on the effective date of the Proposed Transaction with the Equispheres nominees.

Trading in the Buzz Shares is currently suspended and will remain suspended until the completion of the Proposed Transaction. There can be no assurance that the Proposed Transaction will be completed on the terms proposed or at all.

Chuck Rifici, a director of Buzz, indirectly holds 666,842 Series A-1 Preferred Shares in the capital of Equispheres Inc., which is 0.93% of the issued and outstanding share capital of Equispheres Inc. on a fully diluted basis. Mr. Rifici indirectly holds 800,000 Buzz Shares (8.85% on a fully diluted basis) and options to acquire 164,000 Buzz Shares (1.81% on a fully diluted basis).

Summary of the Concurrent Financing

In connection with the Proposed Transaction, Equispheres plans to complete a “best-efforts” brokered private placement of subscription receipts (the “Concurrent Financing“) of Equispheres (the “Subscription Receipts“), with a syndicate of agents co-led by Stifel GMP and INFOR Financial Inc. (“INFOR Financial” and, together, with Stifel GMP, the “Co-Lead Agents“).

The gross proceeds of the Concurrent Financing, less 50% of the agents’ cash commission (as described below) and certain expenses of the agents, will be deposited in escrow on the closing date of the Concurrent Financing until the satisfaction of certain release conditions, including that all conditions precedent to the Proposed Transaction have been met (the “Release Conditions“).

Upon the satisfaction of the Release Conditions, each Subscription Receipt will be converted into one Equispheres Share, without payment of any additional consideration or further action on the part of the holder thereof. At the effective time of the Proposed Transaction, each Equispheres Share will be exchanged for Resulting Issuer shares in accordance with the applicable Exchange Ratio.

In the event that the Release Conditions have not been satisfied prior to 120 days following the closing of the Concurrent Financing, or Equispheres advises the Co-Lead Agents or announces to the public that it does not intend to satisfy the Release Conditions or that the Proposed Transaction has been terminated, the aggregate issue price of the Subscription Receipts shall be returned to the applicable holders of the Subscription Receipts (net of any applicable withholding taxes), and such Subscription Receipts shall be automatically cancelled and be of no further force and effect.

It is expected that, in connection with the Concurrent Financing, the agents will be entitled to receive a cash fee equal to 6% of the aggregate gross proceeds of the Concurrent Financing and such number of compensation options (the “Compensation Options“) equal to 6% of the number of Subscription Receipts issued by Equispheres (including any Subscription Receipts issued pursuant to the agents’ option). Each Compensation Option will be exercisable for one Equispheres Share for a period of two years from the date of closing of the Concurrent Financing. In connection with the completion of the Proposed Transaction, each Compensation Option will be exchanged for options of the Resulting Issuer and adjusted by the applicable Exchange Ratio.

The Subscription Receipts will be offered in all provinces of Canada and such other jurisdictions as Equispheres and the Co-Lead Agents may agree, where the Concurrent Financing can be offered and sold without the requirement to file a prospectus or similar document. It is expected that the net proceeds from the Concurrent Financing will be used for commercial and business development initiatives, working capital, and general corporate purposes.

To date, Equispheres has raised approximately C$61,000,000 through its venture capital rounds and government grants.

“This is an inflection point for both Equispheres and the Additive Manufacturing sector as our technology will significantly lower the cost of metal 3D printing and further disrupt a manufacturing ecosystem still reliant on the age-old practice of traditional metal casting,” said Kevin Nicholds, CEO of Equispheres. “We’re thrilled to receive the support of Stifel GMP and INFOR Financial, a strong show of confidence in the long-term potential of metal Additive Manufacturing.”

Further Information

Further details about the Proposed Transaction and the Resulting Issuer will be provided in a filing statement prepared and filed by Buzz 2 in respect of the Proposed Transaction.

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the filing statement to be prepared in connection with the Proposed Transaction, any information released or received with respect to the Proposed Transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon.

About Buzz Capital 2 Inc.

Buzz 2 is a capital pool company governed by the policies of the TSXV. The principal business of Buzz 2 is the identification and evaluation of assets or businesses with a view to completing a Qualifying Transaction.

About Equispheres

Equispheres is a materials science technology company specializing in high-performance metal powders for additive manufacturing in the automotive, aerospace, and defense industries. We focus on developing innovative, clean-tech solutions to help solve advanced manufacturing challenges with our deep knowledge of metallurgy and its application to additive manufacturing.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

This news release contains statements that constitute “forward-looking statements.” Such forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Buzz 2’s actual results, performance or achievements, or developments to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “intends,” “estimates,” “projects,” “potential” and similar expressions, or that events or conditions “will,” “would,” “may,” “could” or “should” occur.

Forward-looking statements in this document include, among others, statements relating to expectations regarding the completion of the Proposed Transaction (including all required approvals), the listing on the TSXV, the Concurrent Financing, the business plans of the Resulting Issuer and other statements that are not historical facts. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors and risks include, among others: (a) that there is no assurance that the parties hereto will obtain the requisite director, shareholder and regulatory approvals for the Proposed Transaction; (b) there is no assurance that the Concurrent Financing will be completed or as to the actual offering price or gross proceeds to be raised in connection with the Concurrent Financing; (c) following completion of the Proposed Transaction, the Resulting Issuer may require additional financing from time to time in order to continue its operations which may not be available when needed or on acceptable terms and conditions acceptable; (d) the stock markets have experienced volatility that often has been unrelated to the performance of companies and these fluctuations may adversely affect the price of the Resulting Issuer’s securities, regardless of its operating performance; and (e) the impact of COVID-19.

The forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the expectations of Buzz 2 as of the date of this news release and, accordingly, is subject to change after such date. Readers should not place undue importance on forward-looking information and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. Buzz 2 undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management’s beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

THIS PRESS RELEASE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL OR THE SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY ANY SECURITIES IN ANY JURISDICTION, NOR SHALL THERE BE ANY OFFER, SALE, OR SOLICITATION OF SECURITIES IN ANY STATE IN THE UNITED STATES IN WHICH SUCH OFFER, SALE, OR SOLICITATION WOULD BE UNLAWFUL. ANY SECURITIES REFERRED TO HEREIN WILL NOT BE REGISTERED UNDER THE U.S. SECURITIES ACT OF 1933 (THE “1933 ACT“) AND MAY NOT BE OFFERED OR SOLD IN THE UNITED STATES OR TO A U.S. PERSON IN THE ABSENCE OF SUCH REGISTRATION OR AN EXEMPTION FROM THE REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS OF THE 1933 ACT.

The TSXV has not in any way passed upon the merits of the Proposed Transaction and neither has approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

For further information, please contact:

Patrick Lalonde, President and CEO
Tel.: 613-366-4242

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/84185

Fintech

Central banks and the FinTech sector unite to change global payments space

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The BIS, along with seven leading central banks and a cohort of private financial firms, has embarked on an ambitious venture known as Project Agorá.

Named after the Greek word for “marketplace,” this initiative stands at the forefront of exploring the potential of tokenisation to significantly enhance the operational efficiency of the monetary system worldwide.

Central to this pioneering project are the Bank of France (on behalf of the Eurosystem), the Bank of Japan, the Bank of Korea, the Bank of Mexico, the Swiss National Bank, the Bank of England, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. These institutions have joined forces under the banner of Project Agorá, in partnership with an extensive assembly of private financial entities convened by the Institute of International Finance (IIF).

At the heart of Project Agorá is the pursuit of integrating tokenised commercial bank deposits with tokenised wholesale central bank money within a unified, public-private programmable financial platform. By harnessing the advanced capabilities of smart contracts and programmability, the project aspires to unlock new transactional possibilities that were previously infeasible or impractical, thereby fostering novel opportunities that could benefit businesses and consumers alike.

The collaborative effort seeks to address and surmount a variety of structural inefficiencies that currently plague cross-border payments. These challenges include disparate legal, regulatory, and technical standards; varying operating hours and time zones; and the heightened complexity associated with conducting financial integrity checks (such as anti-money laundering and customer verification procedures), which are often redundantly executed across multiple stages of a single transaction due to the involvement of several intermediaries.

As a beacon of experimental and exploratory projects, the BIS Innovation Hub is committed to delivering public goods to the global central banking community through initiatives like Project Agorá. In line with this mission, the BIS will soon issue a call for expressions of interest from private financial institutions eager to contribute to this ground-breaking project. The IIF will facilitate the involvement of private sector participants, extending an invitation to regulated financial institutions representing each of the seven aforementioned currencies to partake in this transformative endeavour.

Source: fintech.globa

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TD Bank inks multi-year strategic partnership with Google Cloud

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TD Bank has inked a multi-year deal with Google Cloud as it looks to streamline the development and deployment of new products and services.

The deal will see the Canadian banking group integrate the vendor’s cloud services into a wider portion of its technology solutions portfolio, a move which TD expects will enable it “to respond quickly to changing customer expectations by rolling out new features, updates, or entirely new financial products at an accelerated pace”.

This marks an expansion of the already established relationship between TD Bank and Google Cloud after the group previously adopted the vendor’s Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) for TD Securities Automated Trading (TDSAT), the Chicago-based subsidiary of its investment banking unit, TD Securities.

TDSAT uses GKE for process automation and quantitative modelling across fixed income markets, resulting in the development of a “data-driven research platform” capable of processing large research workloads in trading.

Dan Bosman, SVP and CIO of TD Securities, claims the infrastructure has so far supported TDSAT with “compute-intensive quantitative analysis” while expanding the subsidiary’s “trading volumes and portfolio size”.

TD’s new partnership with Google Cloud will see the group attempt to replicate the same level of success across its entire portfolio.

Source: fintechfutures.com

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MAS launches transformative platform to combat money laundering

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The MAS has unveiled Cosmic, an acronym for Collaborative Sharing of Money Laundering/Terrorism Financing Information and Cases, a new money laundering platform.

According to Business Times, launched on April 1, Cosmic stands out as the first centralised digital platform dedicated to combating money laundering, terrorism financing, and proliferation financing on a worldwide scale. This move follows the enactment of the Financial Services and Markets (Amendment) Act 2023, which, along with its subsidiary legislation, commenced on the same day to provide a solid legal foundation and safeguards for information sharing among financial institutions (FIs).

Cosmic enables participating FIs to exchange customer information when certain “red flags” indicate potential suspicious activities. The platform’s introduction is a testament to MAS’s commitment to ensuring the integrity of the financial sector, mandating participants to establish stringent policies and operational safeguards to maintain the confidentiality of the shared information. This strategic approach allows for the efficient exchange of intelligence on potential criminal activities while protecting legitimate customers.

Significantly, Cosmic was co-developed by MAS and six leading commercial banks in Singapore—OCBC, UOB, DBS, Citibank, HSBC, and Standard Chartered—which will serve as participant FIs during its initial phase. The initiative emphasizes voluntary information sharing focused on addressing key financial crime risks within the commercial banking sector, such as the misuse of legal persons, trade finance, and proliferation financing.

Loo Siew Yee, assistant managing director for policy, payments, and financial crime at MAS, highlighted that Cosmic enhances the existing collaboration between the industry and law enforcement authorities, fortifying Singapore’s reputation as a well-regulated and trusted financial hub. Similarly, Pua Xiao Wei of Citi Singapore and Loretta Yuen of OCBC have expressed their institutions’ support for Cosmic, noting its potential to ramp up anti-money laundering efforts and its significance as a development in the banking sector’s ability to combat financial crimes efficiently. DBS’ Lam Chee Kin also praised Cosmic as a “game changer,” emphasizing the careful balance between combating financial crime and ensuring legitimate customers’ access to financial services.

Source: fintech.global

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