CounterPath to Acquire NewHeights
June 18 2007 - 8:30AM
PR Newswire (US)
Acquisition to enable company to offer a more comprehensive
solution suite to support growing momentum in IP telephony
VANCOUVER, June 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CounterPath Solutions,
Inc. (OTCBB: CTPS), a leading provider of VoIP (Voice over IP) and
Video over IP SIP softphones, today announced that it has entered
into a definitive agreement to acquire NewHeights Software Corp.
Under the terms of the agreement, CounterPath will acquire all of
the shares of NewHeights through the issuance of 40,250,000 shares
of CounterPath's common stock. In addition, CounterPath will issue
13,750,000 shares of common stock at $0.40 per share for an
investment of $5.5 million for an aggregate transaction value of
$21.6 million. The acquisition and investment will allow
CounterPath to combine its existing softphone solutions with
NewHeights' enterprise softphone and IP application server
products, enabling the company to provide best in class voice and
multimedia collaboration services to a wider range of customers
within the IP communications market. As part of the transaction,
Wesley Clover, a private equity firm headed by Sir Terence H.
Matthews, will invest in CounterPath to advance the company's
strategy of being the dominant endpoint provider for fixed and
mobile operators and infrastructure providers across all desktop,
embedded and mobile device platforms. "NewHeights and CounterPath
are both innovative and agile companies, joining forces at an
opportune time as their respective markets take off and companies
are making long term product decisions," said Sir Terence H.
Matthews, Chairman of Wesley Clover. "I believe that the potential
for business growth is excellent. Wesley Clover has mentored and
made significant investments in more than 50 successful technology
companies and we are pleased to include CounterPath among our
investments." The combined company will maintain the CounterPath
name and brand, will have approximately 100 employees and will be
headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia with a development
office in Ottawa, Ontario. Sir Terence H. Matthews, Chairman of
Mitel Corporation and Wesley Clover, will become the Chairman of
CounterPath. Greg Pelling, President of NewHeights and formerly
with Cisco Systems and PricewaterhouseCoopers, will be the
company's Chief Executive Officer. Mark Bruk, CounterPath's
founder, will remain active in the company and on the board as Vice
Chairman. "The acquisition of NewHeights will deliver value to our
customers, partners, employees and shareholders, while making us
the clear choice for new customers," said Mark Bruk, current
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CounterPath. "This
transaction allows us to advance our roadmap and bring in
additional capital and a strong strategic investment partner. Our
focus and resolve is strengthened as we continue on our path to
create the industry's leading consumer and enterprise softphone
solution provider." Following the completion of the transaction,
the combined company will initially focus on integrating the sales,
marketing and development teams, consolidating and strengthening
soft-client and softphone offerings and further commercializing its
server solutions. The new products will be made available to
CounterPath's list of more than 250 customers across 50 countries
as well as to new customers in the service provider, OEM (Original
Equipment Manufacturer) and enterprise sectors. CounterPath's
roster of customers includes Adtran, Alcatel-Lucent, AT&T, BT
(British Telecom), Cisco Systems, Deutsche Telekom, Portugal
Telecom and Vonage. "By bringing together the unique strengths of
each company, this transaction accelerates our respective growth
strategies," said Greg Pelling. "CounterPath's VoIP applications
are recognized as the leading SIP-based softphones in the industry
today. By layering on enterprise software and features, we believe
we can offer an attractive solution to the rapidly growing IP
communications market." Fiscal details related to the acquisition
CounterPath will acquire all of the shares of NewHeights through
the issuance of 40,250,000 shares of CounterPath's common stock to
shareholders of NewHeights (NewHeights shareholders who are
Canadian residents may, in lieu of receiving shares of CounterPath
common stock, elect to receive shares exchangeable into CounterPath
shares in order to defer taxable income or gains). Immediately
prior to closing, NewHeights will be debt free and have $2.5
million in cash to contribute to the combined entities. Wesley
Clover has irrevocably committed a further $3.5 million to be
invested over a seven month period for 8,750,000 shares of common
stock bringing the total cash contribution to CounterPath by
NewHeights and Wesley Clover to $6 million. Upon closing,
CounterPath's convertible debenture holders have agreed to convert
their existing debentures in the amount of $4 million and invest a
further $2 million for 15,000,000 shares of common stock at $0.40
per share. At closing, CounterPath expects to be debt free, and
have an additional $8 million of new cash or cash commitments.
Following the investments of the convertible debenture holders and
Wesley Clover, CounterPath expects that there will be a total of
101,940,983 shares of common stock outstanding (including shares
exchangeable into CounterPath shares). The closing of the
transaction contemplated by the definitive agreement is subject to
various conditions, including approval by NewHeights'
securityholders, court approval and other customary closing
conditions. The transaction is expected to close within 60 days.
The shares of CounterPath's common stock to be issued in connection
with the proposed acquisition and investments have not been and
will not be registered under the Securities Act of 1933 as amended
(the "Act"), and may not be offered or sold in the United States
absent registration, or an applicable exemption from registration,
under the Act. About NewHeights Software NewHeights Software
Corporation delivers one of today's most evolved next-generation
communications software clients. Sold under the brands of Service
Providers, Softswitch vendors and IP-PBX vendors, NewHeights'
soft-clients are driving a new communications experience within
small and large businesses. Extracting the value of today's
SIP/IMS, MGCP and proprietary networks, NewHeights' soft-clients
integrate feature-rich call control with custom and enterprise
applications to enable a unified, contextual communications
environment for fixed and mobile users. NewHeights is a privately
held company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada with
development offices in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada and sales
offices in the United Kingdom and Australia. Its major shareholders
include Wesley Clover and Bell Canada. To date more than CDN$25
million has been invested in NewHeights since it was formed in
1998. About CounterPath CounterPath Solutions, Inc. is a developer
of award-winning, carrier-grade VoIP and Video over IP SIP
softphones for telecom and Internet telephony service providers,
cable operators, IP-PBX manufacturers and infrastructure
manufacturers. CounterPath's SIP softphones and softphone SDKs
(Software Development Kits), which provide VoIP, Video over IP, IM
(Instant Messaging) and presence functionality and can be
preconfigured to our customer's VoIP service, are predominantly
licensed on a per seat or per subscriber basis, either co-branded
or private labeled. CounterPath's technology is deployed by over
250 customers in more than 50 countries. Additional information
about CounterPath and CounterPath's products and services is
available at http://www.counterpath.com/. Forward-Looking
Statements This news release contains "forward-looking statements".
Statements in this press release, which are not purely historical,
are forward-looking statements and include any statements regarding
beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future.
Such forward-looking statements include, among others, the
expectation and/or claim, as applicable, that (i) CounterPath will
complete the acquisition of NewHeights, (ii) after completion of
the acquisition, CounterPath will be the industry's leading
consumer and enterprise softphone provider, and (iii) after
completion of the acquisition, CounterPath's growth strategy would
be accelerated. It is important to note that actual outcomes and
CounterPath's actual results could differ materially from those in
such forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ from
those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous
factors. Such factors include, among others: (1) the failure to
complete the acquisition of NewHeights, (2) the failure to
successfully integrate the businesses of CounterPath and NewHeights
after completion of the acquisition, (3) the failure to develop new
and innovative products using CounterPath's and NewHeights'
technologies, (4) CounterPath's ability to remain competitive as
other parties develop and release competitive products, (5)
CounterPath's ability to retain the employees necessary to continue
research and development of current and new products, (6) the
success by CounterPath of the sales of its current and new
products, (7) the impact of competitive products on the sales of
CounterPath's products, (8) the impact of technology changes on
CounterPath's products and on the VoIP industry, (9) the
compatibility of CounterPath's products with new computer operating
systems, (10) the rate of adoption by service providers and the
general public of VoIP as a replacement for regular and cellular
phone service, (11) general economic conditions as they affect
CounterPath and its prospective customers, (12) the ability of
CounterPath to control costs operating, general administrative and
other expenses, and (13) insufficient investor interest in
CounterPath's securities which may impact on CounterPath's ability
to raise additional financing as required. Readers should also
refer to the risk disclosures outlined in CounterPath's quarterly
reports on Form 10-QSB, annual reports on Form 10-KSB and
CounterPath's other disclosure documents filed from time-to-time
with the Securities and Exchange Commission. CONTACT: Media
Contact: Sarah Stover, Grey Worldwide PR, (604) 484-3274, ;
Investor Contact: Scott Wilson, The Blueshirt Group, (415)
489-2188, DATASOURCE: CounterPath Solutions, Inc. CONTACT: Media
Contact: Sarah Stover, Grey Worldwide PR, (604) 484-3274, ;
Investor Contact: Scott Wilson, The Blueshirt Group, (415)
489-2188,
Copyright