Presagis to Acquire AcuSoft, Inc.
04 October 2006 16:37
MONTREAL – October 3, 2006 – Presagis (TSX: EGY), a global leader in visualization and simulation software solutions, today announced the acquisition of AcuSoft, Inc., a premier software technology company specializing in simulation, training, visualization and automation.
The acquisition is part of Presagis’s overall strategy to expand its operations in the U.S. market and deliver comprehensive end-to-end visualization and simulation solutions to its customers. The transaction, valued at up to US $2,660,000 (a portion of which will be payable only if certain financial targets are met) has received regulatory approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CIFIUS”), and is undergoing review by the Defense Security Service (DSS). In partial payment of the purchase price, Presagis has issued 2,027,203 common shares to the former shareholders of AcuSoft in connection with this acquisition.
“Our partnership with AcuSoft prompted this acquisition, and we look forward to leveraging their ground-based simulation expertise as we drive further into government simulation,” says Patrice Commune, chief executive officer, Presagis. “This acquisition will be instrumental in helping us further develop our relationship with PEO STRI as we embrace its OneSAF strategy, and will deepen our longstanding partnership with Boeing through AcuSoft’s involvement in the Future Combat Systems (FCS) program.”
With the acquisition of AcuSoft, Inc., Presagis will enhance its ground simulation capabilities in the STAGE™ simulation toolkit. STAGE is Presagis’ portfolio of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software products for building simulation-based training systems, avionics test benches, and mission planning and rehearsal systems. By integrating AcuSoft’s suite of simulation tools, STAGE users will have vastly enhanced simulation and modeling capabilities. AcuSoft’s clients will benefit from Presagis’s extensive portfolio of simulation tools including AI.implant, the Company’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Software Development Kit (SDK).
“The technology that has been developed at Presagis – especially STAGE and AI.implant – combined with AcuSoft’s tools, will greatly expand the capabilities that we can offer our current and future customers,” said Bill Szymanski, president of AcuSoft, Inc. “In becoming a part of Presagis we will be better able to expand the worldwide reach of our technology and together grow Presagis’ influence in the American military marketplace.”
AcuSoft’s longstanding involvement in several high-profile military projects made it a natural fit for Presagis’s acquisition strategy. Presagis will seek to strengthen AcuSoft’s established relationships as a supplier to major government initiatives such as the OneSAF Objective System (OOS) of the Army’s Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training & Instrumentation (PEO STRI), and will continue to support the development of tools and services for this market.
Presagis is permitted to acquire AcuSoft so long as it has in place a set of institutional measures that insulate and protect AcuSoft’s classified information and contract performance from disclosure to the foreign company. Such measures are frequently referred to as Foreign Ownership Control or Influence (“FOCI”) mitigation. This mitigation plan includes, among other requirements, the establishment of an independent board of directors in the United States. The Board will consist of Jacques Dubois, chief financial officer at Presagis, Bill Szymanski, president of AcuSoft, Inc., Lana Liu, treasurer and secretary of AcuSoft and one of its original founders, General George A. Joulwan, United States Army (Ret. 1997), and Nick Ali, former vice president of Lockheed Martin.
For more information on this company:
Presagis - Software Solutions for Embedded Display Graphics and Custom Simulations
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