VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 23, 2021 / Voice Mobility International, Inc. (the "Company") (TSXV:VMY.H), further to the Company's previously announced proposed transaction to acquire VM Agritech Limited (formerly MyCo Science Limited) ("VM Agritech") (the "Acquisition"), the Company is pleased to provide a VM Agritech business update, and progress relating to the Acquisition.
New Patents
VM Agritech continues to successfully secure its intellectual property globally and has recently been granted the following additional patents. Patent no. 1 (Fungicidal) was granted in Japan on December 11, 2020, and Patent no. 2 (Sporicidal) was granted in Russia on January 11, 2021 and in Australia on March 9, 2021. VM Agritech's expanding country list of patents granted now extends to USA (Fungicidal and continuation), Australia (both patents), China, S. Korea, Canada, Japan, South Africa and Russia.
Cornell University
The Company is also pleased to announce that VM Agritech has signed a Sponsored Research Agreement with Cornell University ("Cornell"), the world's preeminent center for agriculture and food research, to conduct Mode of Action studies on VM Agritech's innovative formulation. Furthermore, VM Agritech and Cornell have also signed four Routine Product Testing Agreements (RPTA's) to commence efficacy and field trial studies on bacteria and certain fruits and vegetables that exhibit the most severe resistance to the current fungicides. Research is commencing this month.
Share for Debt Settlement
The Company also announces that it has arranged to settle outstanding indebtedness with certain creditors (the "Shares for Debt Settlement") through the issuance of common shares of the Company, subject to approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. Pursuant to the Shares for Debt Settlement, the Company has agreed to issue a total of 1,245,157 common shares of the Company at a deemed price of $0.07 per share in satisfaction of outstanding loans and accrued interest of $87,160.99. The common shares to be issued pursuant to the Shares for Debt Settlement will be subject to a four month hold from the applicable date of issuance.
Board of Directors and Management Changes
The Company also announces further changes to the Company's board of directors and management team that will become effective on closing of the Acquisition. The board of directors of the Company will be reconstituted to consist of Michael Sapountzoglou, Christopher Wightman, Scott Ackerman, Peter Karos and John Farlinger, and the management team will be comprised of Michael Sapountzoglou as President and Chief Executive Officer, Christopher Wightman as Executive Vice President, Rob Chisholm as Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary, and Svetlana Panicheva as Chief Scientist.
Michael Sapountzoglou, President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
Mr. Sapountzoglou's career has primarily been in capital markets and private equity. He is currently co-founder and CEO of Bluewater Acquisition Corp., a TSXV listed Capital Pool Corporation, in the process of considering investment opportunities. Mr. Sapountzoglou began his career with a private family office in Monaco running proprietary trading and asset management. In 1994 he moved to London and helped establish the family office of the Angelopoulos Group, leading M&A transactions within the group's core investments in shipping, off-shore drilling and private equity until his departure in 2015. He established the group's JV with Odfjell Drilling owning 2 UDW drill-ships and led a series of bond transactions trading on the Oslo exchange, raising over $1.6B for the off-shore projects. For the shipping arm, Metrostar Management Corp., he led the company's capital markets strategy and business development. He directed the Group's initial seed investment in PuriCore plc, a specialty biopharmaceutical company focused on developing its proprietary immunomodulatory technology (HOCL), where he was also a founding Director from 1999-2013. He assisted in taking the company public on the Main List of the London Stock Exchange and chaired the Remuneration and Nomination committees.
Mr. Sapountzoglou is also on the board and chairs the audit committee of ICI REIC, a real estate investment trust trading on the Athens exchange. Mr. Sapountzoglou is based in Athens, is a Canadian citizen and holds an Honors BA in Economics and International Finance from Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada.
Chris Wightman, Executive Vice President and Director
Mr. Wightman was an investment banker with Goldman Sachs (Head of Risk, Europe), Bankers Trust (Equity Derivatives), NatWest Markets (Founder, CEO NatWest Financial Products) and BankAmerica (NationsBank Head of Global Equities). Subsequent to his Investment Banking career, Mr. Wightman became a serial entrepreneur focused on broad technology themes. Amongst other ongoing businesses, in 1997 he re-structured what became PuriCore plc, a business developing the chemistry behind the mammalian immune system (HOCl). As Executive Chairman, he led its listing on the full list of the London Stock Exchange in 2006. Work there included a successful UK grant programme investigation of the application for HOCl in agriculture, and the filing of a number of patents reflecting the novel formulations discovered. The team who led the studies (then) at Oxford University, now at Exeter University, requested that Chris consider the potential for a Copper/Zinc/Phosphite chemistry in 2014. The result is VM Agritech.
Robert Chisholm, Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary
Mr. Chisholm has been the Chief Financial Officer at Emprise since July 2008, a company providing management, restructuring, accounting, and financial services to public companies. Prior to Emprise, Mr. Chisholm was the Chief Financial Officer for PNI Digital Media from September 2001 until March 2009, a publicly listed company (acquired by Staples). Mr. Chisholm holds a professional accounting designation in Canada and received his BBA with a major in accounting from Saint Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia.
Svetlana Panicheva, Chief Scientist
Ms. Panicheva is currently the Chief Scientist of VM Agritech. Ms. Panicheva has significant experience in research and development with a demonstrated history of accomplishments in the biotech industry. In addition to her role with VM Agritech, Ms. Panicheva is currently a technical consultant to Vapani LLC, a private electrochemical system design and development company. Ms. Panicheva has also served as Director of R&D for Realm Therapeutics, Inc., and Associate Director of R&D for PuriCore, Inc., both biopharmaceutical companies focused on HOCL. Ms. Panicheva holds an MBA degree from University of Missouri-Saint Louis and a Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Biotechnology, Medical Devices and Systems from the Russian Academy of Medical Technical Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
John Farlinger, Director
Mr. Farlinger is a venture and private equity backed executive and entrepreneur, and brings more than 20 years of experience in telecom, operations, technology and finance. Mr. Farlinger has held the position of CEO and Executive Chairman of Assure Holdings Corp. (TSXV) since June 1, 2018. His past positions include Director and Chair of the Governance and Audit Committee of Freckle Ltd. (TSXV) from June 13, 2019 to February 4, 2020, Chairman and CEO of Urban Communications Inc. (TSXV) from July 8, 2014 to June of 2018, Senior Vice-President of Teliphone Navigata-Westel from February 2013 to April 2014, CEO of Titan Communications from 2009 to February 2013 and CEO and President of Silicon Valley based Adzilla Inc. from August 2004 until 2009. Mr. Farlinger is currently an advisor to CareCru Inc., a healthcare start-up. Mr. Farlinger is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA) and graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) from Queen's University.
Peter Karos, Director
Mr. Karos is a founding partner and was a director and the CEO of Bluewater Acquisition Corp, a TSXV listed company, from March 2018 to February 2020. Since 2013, Mr. Karos has been General Partner at Argonaut Maritime Investment, a consulting firm in the commodities and shipping industries. From 2006 through 2013 Mr. Karos was head trader and an analyst at Polar Asset Management Partners Inc.
Scott Ackerman, Director
Mr. Ackerman is the President and CEO of Emprise Capital Corp., a private merchant bank based in Vancouver, BC, which provides management, restructuring, accounting and financial services to public companies. Mr. Ackerman has been active in the public markets for more than 25 years, having held senior executive roles in various capacities from Investor Relations to Executive Management. In addition to his role with Emprise, Mr. Ackerman serves as director and/or officer of a number of publicly traded and private "start-up" venture companies.
About VM Agritech Limited
VM Agritech Limited has developed and patented a solubilised copper zinc ammonium complex that appears to kill pathogenic fungi in plants directly while also potentially triggering a plant's immune system to defend itself against further fungi attack. In 2016 and 2017, the results of which were delivered in 2019 and 2020, VM Agritech, in collaboration with the research team at Exeter University, was granted two Industrial Partnership awards with the Research Council BBSRC in the United Kingdom worth over £1.19 million (approximately CAD$2.06 million). VM Agritech has recently signed a significant research agreement with Cornell University to further research and develop its technology over the next three years with the end goal of commercialization applicable to the entire plant-based agricultural industry. In anticipation of closing the Acquisition, the company's name was changed from MyCo Sciences Limited to VM Agritech Limited on February 22, 2021.
Trading in the common shares of the Company will remain halted pending further filings with the Exchange. The Company recently submitted its draft filing statement that has been prepared in connection with the Acquisition to the Exchange and is working diligently to complete the remaining filings with the Exchange, with a view to completing the proposed transaction in short order.
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
VOICE MOBILITY INTERNATIONAL, INC.
Scott Ackerman
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: (778) 331 8505
The TSX Venture Exchange has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed Acquisition and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Completion of the Acquisition is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to Exchange acceptance and shareholder approval, if applicable. The Acquisition and related financing cannot be completed until such approvals are obtained. There can be no assurance that the Acquisition will be completed as proposed or at all.
Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the filing statement to be prepared in connection with the Acquisition, any information released or received with respect to the Acquisition may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of the Company should be considered highly speculative.
Statements included in this announcement, including statements concerning our plans, intentions and expectations, which are not historical in nature are intended to be, and are hereby identified as, "forward‐ looking statements". Forward‐looking statements may be identified by words including "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "expects" and similar expressions. The Company cautions readers that forward‐looking statements, including without limitation those relating to the Company's future operations and business prospects, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward‐looking statements.
SOURCE: Voice Mobility International Inc.