| VANCOUVER,
BRITISH COLUMBIA--Orient Venture Capital Inc. (the "Corporation") (TSX
VENTURE:OVC.P - News), a Vancouver based Capital Pool Company listed on
the TSX Venture Exchange Inc. (the "Exchange") is pleased to announce that
it has entered into a Letter of Intent ("LOI") effective May 1, 2008 with
Genesis Fueltech, Inc. ("Genesis"), to purchase all of the issued securities
of Genesis (the "Acquisition").
The Acquisition, if completed,
will constitute the Corporation's "Qualifying Transaction" under Exchange
Policy 2.4. Genesis is at arm's length to the Corporation, as such, the
Acquisition will not be subject to approval of the shareholders of the
Corporation.
Genesis
The following is a summary of
Genesis's existing business, based upon due diligence reviews carried out
by the management of the Corporation to date.
Genesis was incorporated on July
17, 2002 under the laws of Washington, United States and is headquartered
in Spokane, Washington in the United States. Genesis is controlled by David
DeVries, Larry Williams and Joseph Phillip Piffer of Spokane, Washington.
Genesis' stated mission is to
become a world leader in the hydrogen generation business. Genesis develops
and manufactures hydrogen generation systems and integrated small fuel
cell power systems and is developing advanced hydrogen purification technology.
Genesis plans to become the "hydrogen source" solution for fuel cell systems
and for users of ultra-pure hydrogen. Markets include backup, remote and
portable power for military, telecomm, and industrial applications.
Investment by the shareholders
of Genesis, along with awards from the US Government and with project funding
from customers and other sources, have financed approximately US$1,200,000
in the research and development of hydrogen generation systems.
Genesis personnel have pioneered
the development of fuel cells since 1996 and hydrogen generators since
2001, with about 25 patents awarded or patent applications in process.
Genesis has developed superior hydrogen generators, integration of hydrogen
generation with fuel cell systems, and with US government funding is developing
advanced hydrogen purification technology. Management has extensive experience
in energy and manufacturing industries with both private and public companies.
Genesis is at the stage of small scale commercial production. Hydrogen
generators are sold to a variety of customers in the United States, European
and Pacific markets.
Proposed Acquisition
Under the terms of the LOI, the
Corporation will acquire all of the issued securities of Genesis in exchange
for the issue of 21,500,000 common shares of the Corporation (the "Common
Shares" or individually, a "Common Share") at a deemed price per Common
Share of $0.40 to the holders of securities of Genesis on a pro-rata basis.
Upon the completion of the Acquisition,
Genesis will become a subsidiary of the Corporation and the Corporation
will carry on its business through Genesis.
Proposed Private Placement
The Corporation proposes to complete,
concurrently with the closing of the Acquisition, a brokered private placement
consisting of the issuance of up to 5,000,000 units of the Corporation
at a price of $0.40 per unit (the "Units" or a "Unit"), for gross proceeds
of up to $2,000,000. Each Unit will consist of one Common Share and one-half
of one common share purchase warrant (the "Warrants" or a "Warrant"). Each
Warrant will entitle the holder to acquire one additional Common Share
of the Corporation at a price of $0.55 per Common Share for a period of
two years from closing.
Haywood Securities Inc. ("Haywood")
has agreed to act as the Corporation's agent with regards to the private
placement for the Qualifying Transaction. Haywood will be paid a corporate
finance fee of $50,000 plus 100,000 warrants (the "Compensation Options")
Each Compensation Option will entitle Haywood to acquire one additional
Unit of the Corporation at a price of $0.40 per Unit for a period of two
years from closing. Haywood will also be paid a cash commission equal to
7% of the gross proceeds from the sale of Units and Compensation Options
in the amount of 10% of the number of Units sold . For orders in excess
of $500,000 sourced by Phillip Piffer and Min Kuang, referred to as the
President's List, Haywood will be paid 3.5% cash commission and 5% Compensation
Options. The Compensation Options will be exercisable at $0.40 per Common
Share for a period of 12 months from the closing of the Acquisition. Haywood
will also be compensated for its reasonable legal and out-of-pocket expenses.
The proceeds of this private
placement will be used to fund product commercialization, research and
development, extension of protection of Genesis' intellectual property,
market development and for general working capital purposes.
Exemption From Sponsorship
The Corporation intends to rely
on the exemption from sponsorship in Exchange Policy 2.2 section 3.4(a)(ii).
Securities Issued on Closing
On the closing of the Acquisition
and the brokered private placement, the Corporation will be classified
as a Technology Issuer and will have approximately 31,500,000 issued Common
Shares and 2,500,000 Warrants, a total of 600,000 Compensation Options
outstanding that entitle the holders to purchase up to 3,400,000 Common
Shares at exercise prices between $0.40 and $0.55 per Common Share. In
addition, the Corporation has also granted stock options to the current
directors and officers to acquire an aggregate of 500,000 Common Shares
at an exercise price of $0.10 per Common Share, has granted an aggregate
of 300,000 agent's options in connection with its initial public offering,
at an exercise price of $0.20 per Common Share. On closing of the Acquisition,
the Corporation intends to grant stock options to purchase an additional
600,000 Common Shares an exercise price of $0.40 per Common Share.
Genesis has currently 190,000
options to purchase common shares of Genesis outstanding at an exercise
price of US$1.25 per share (the "Genesis Options"). The Genesis Options
will be exchanged into options to purchase 1,560,000 Common Shares ("New
Orient Options") and rolled into the Corporation's stock option plan (the
"Stock Option Plan"). Each New Orient Option will be exercisable into one
Common Share at an exercise price of approximately $0.16 per Common Share
until October 31, 2012 unless expired earlier in accordance with the Stock
Option Plan.
Directors, Officers and other
Insiders
On completion of the Acquisition,
the directors, senior officers, insiders and senior advisors of the resulting
issuer are anticipated to be:
Joseph Phillip Piffer, Director,
Chairman & Chief Financial Officer
Phillip Piffer has worked in
the hydrogen and fuel cell industry since 2001 and has been Chief Executive
Officer of Genesis since its founding. Phillip was a director and CEO of
Brigdon Resources Inc., a the TSX listed natural gas exploration and production
company from 1991 through 1998. Before that (1987-1990) Phillip led the
turnaround and reorganization of Nortek Capital Corporation, an electrical
service, contracting and manufacturing company. From 1983 to 1987 Phillip
was a director, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of
Rupertsland Resources-Bracknell Corporation, TSX listed company and was
deeply involved in the financial reorganizations of that company. Phillip
has been a director of a number of resource sector companies including
Mines Management Inc. and is currently a director and audit committee chairman
of TSX listed Berkley Resources Inc. Phillip is a Certified Management
Accountant and received his MBA from the University of Calgary.
David DeVries, Director, President
&Chief Technology Officer
David DeVries is the founder
of Genesis and has 12 years experience in fuel cell and hydrogen technology
research and development. David joined the predecessor to fuel cell developer
ReliOn Inc. in 1996 as one of its first six employees. David is a named
inventor or co-inventor on seven ReliOn patents and on four more of their
patent applications. David left ReliOn in 2001 to pursue the development
of hydrogen generation technology and has been Chief Technology Officer
of Genesis since its founding. Genesis has under David's tenure been awarded
two US patents with one more pending in Europe. Five more distinct applications
have been filed and several more are under development. David's breakthrough
designs in hydrogen generation, hydrogen purification, system controls
and system integration provide much of the platform for the broad commercialization
of fuel cell power systems. David is an electrical engineer and received
his BSEE and MSEE from Washington State University.
Ronald W. Britton, Director
Dr. Britton was Chairman of Fuel
Cells Canada from 2000 to 2002 and served as its President and CEO from
2002 to 2004. Dr. Britton was with Methanex Corporation from 1995 to 2002,
as Vice President North America & Global Technology and then as Senior
Vice President, Emerging Energy Applications. Prior to joining Methanex
Dr. Britton had a distinguished 21 year career as a manager and senior
executive with the Bayer group of companies in Canada, the United States
and Germany. Dr. Britton is an organic chemist and was educated at the
University of Victoria (B.Sc.), Dartmouth College (MA), the University
of British Columbia (Ph.D.) and the University of Virginia (Post Doctoral
Fellow).
David Grant Gunderson, Director
Grant Gunderson was an associate
with Sayer Securities Ltd. from 1994 to 2003. Grant was with Bowtex Energy
(Canada) Corporation from 1990 to 1993, including a term as President and
CEO. From 1979 to 1990 Grant was with the Canadian Superior and Mobil Oil
group of companies in both Canada and the United States, including senior
executive positions in planning and economics and as Manager of Mobil Oil
Canada's Heavy Oil Division. Grant has served as a director of a number
of public and private companies in the energy industry. From its founding
in 1996 until its 2007 takeover-merger, Grant was a director of Shiningbank
Energy Income Fund. Since 2005 Grant has been a director of TSX listed
Stoneham Drilling Trust. Grant is an engineer and earned both a B.Sc. and
MBA at the University of Alberta.
Shibli I. Bayyuk, Vice President
& Chief Research Scientist
Dr. Bayyuk has 12 years experience
in fuel cell and hydrogen technology research and development. Dr. Bayyuk
joined the predecessor to fuel cell developer ReliOn Inc. in 1996 as one
of its first six employees. Dr. Bayyuk is a named inventor or co-inventor
on eight ReliOn patents and three additional patent applications. Prior
to joining ReliOn he was Professor of Chemistry at Gonzaga University.
Dr. Bayyuk joined Genesis as Chief Research Scientist in 2005. Dr. Bayyuk
was educated at the American University of Beirut (B.Sc.) and at the University
of Birmingham (M.Sc. and PhD.) in England.
Min Kuang, Director
Min Kuang is a founder and chief
executive officer of Asia Select Investment Fund Inc., a private equity
firm established in April 2007, where she is responsible for equity investments,
merger & acquisition transactions, taking companies public and fund
performance in Canada, U.S.A. and Greater China. Since 2006, Min has been
a chief executive officer, shareholder and director of the Corporation
and a shareholder and director of Orient Venture Capital II Inc., a TSX
Venture listed capital pool company, formed to identify, evaluate and acquire
the assets of companies with a focus on the clean tech and renewable energy
sectors. From December 2001 to April 2007, Min was the chief executive
officer of Orient Venture Ltd., an investment advisory and consulting firm
with offices in Canada and China specializing in assisting management in
analyzing international merger & acquisition and strategic alternatives
to private and public companies in Canada and China. From 1996 to 2006,
Min invested in and managed several start-up technology companies in the
electronic, communications and healthcare sectors including Andis (China)
Electronic Inc., Kingsway (China) Communications Inc., N2 Natural Health
(Canada) and Joymain (Canada) Technologies Inc. Min also worked with some
of the world's most respected names in building automation equipment such
as Chubb, Cerberus, Alcatel, and Siemens from 1994 to 2000. Min received
a master degree of business administration from Lawrence Technology University
in Michigan, U.S.A.
Ian MacDougall, Director
Ian McDougall is the founder
of Orient Venture Capital I and II Inc. and has been an advisor of Asia
Select Investment Fund since 2005. Ian has been involved in the medical
device sector in Vancouver since 1996 and has co-founded several device
companies and has evolved several products from the concept stage through
all development to eventual worldwide distribution. Ian holds a degree
in Mechanical Engineering. He is co-founder and currently Chief Operations
Officer for Evasc Medical Systems, also Ian is co-founder and Chief Technology
Officer for ECS Neurovascular. Both companies are subsidiaries of Evysio
Medical and both are privately held companies in Vancouver. Ian also co-founded
Angiometrx in 2001 which has been focused on the development and commercialization
of the Metricath System. Angiometrx developed the Metricath product concept
and overcame commercialization and regulatory hurdles so that Metricath
is currently being sold and used throughout the world. Angiometrx was acquired
in 2003 by Medical Ventures Corp on the TSX. Ian continues to advise and
consult to Medical Ventures. In 2005, Ian was recognized as one of the
top 40 business people under 40 years of age in British Columbia (top 40
under 40) by the journal Business in Vancouver.
General
Completion of the Acquisition
is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, a definitive
agreement entered into with Genesis and approval of the Exchange. The Acquisition
will not close until conditional approval is obtained from the Exchange.
There can be no assurance that the Acquisition will be completed as proposed
or at all. Under Exchange rules, trading in the Common Shares has been
halted, and will remain halted pending completion of the Qualifying Transaction.
Upon the completion of the Acquisition,
the Corporation's name will be changed to "Genesis Fueltech Corporation".
Completion of the transaction
is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, Exchange
acceptance and if applicable pursuant to Exchange Requirements, majority
of the minority shareholder approval. Where applicable, the transaction
cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There
can be no assurance that the transaction will be completed as proposed
or at all.
Investors are cautioned that,
except as disclosed in the management information circular or filing statement
to be prepared in connection with the transaction, any information released
or received with respect to the transaction may not be accurate or complete
and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of a capital pool
company should be considered highly speculative.
The TSX Venture Exchange Inc.
has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has
neither approved not disapproved the contents of this press release. |