GEO confirmed a deal with Energis PLC in which
Energis will pay a fee of 7.5 million pounds for the rights to market GEO’s
Emblaze streaming media services and applications throughout Europe.
GEO will provide the technology for these services and Energis will deliver the bandwidth and hosting infrastructure through its subsidiary, Planet Online Ltd.
Energis and Planet Online will also provide its strong marketing infrastructure and expertise in the
United Kingdom and Europe.
Furthermore, GEO entered into an agreement whereby Energis will acquire
existing 6,976,743 Ordinary shares in GEO, or 5.6 percent, to the value of an
additional 7.5 million pounds from shares sold by the four founding partners
and Olamic Holdings N.V.
Energis will acquire the existing Ordinary shares from GEO’s directors for a
price equivalent to 107.5 pounds per share (being the market price at the
time of entering into heads of agreement with GEO on Sept. 8, 1999).
This price compares with the current market price of 247 pounds on Nov. 9, 1999.
Following the sale of GEO existing Ordinary shares, GEO’s directors will
retain aggregate 78,383,257 Ordinary shares in GEO, representing 65.39
percent of the issued share capital.
GEO’s directors will reinvest a portion of the sums they realize from the
sale of their Ordinary shares to Energis to acquire additional GEO shares,
when permitted under the provisions of GEO’s Model Code on dealings.
GEO’s directors continue to be bound by a share lock-in provision over the
remainder of their Ordinary shares entered into at the time of GEO’s entry to
the Official List on June 8, 1998.
Energis has also agreed to be bound into a
similar lock-in arrangement in respect of the Ordinary shares acquired from
GEO’s directors. The arrangement expires on June 8, 2000.
