05:34:58 EDT Fri 29 Mar 2024
Enter Symbol
or Name
USA
CA



Bitgold Inc
Symbol XAU
Shares Issued 36,619,885
Close 2015-05-21 C$ 4.65
Market Cap C$ 170,282,465
Recent Sedar Documents

Bitgold to acquire GoldMoney for 11.16 million shares

2015-05-22 08:01 ET - News Release

Mr. Roy Sebag reports

BITGOLD INC. ANNOUNCES CAD 51.9 MILLION ACQUISITION OF GOLDMONEY.COM, INTEGRATING OVER CAD 1.5 BILLION IN ASSETS AND OVER 135,000 USER SIGNUPS ONTO THE BITGOLD AURUM NETWORK

Bitgold Inc. has entered into an acquisition agreement to purchase the operating and intellectual property assets of GoldMoney Network Ltd., subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. With over $1.5-billion in assets under vault management GoldMoney is among the world's largest private managers of precious metal assets, renowned for its innovation and integrity in the gold market.

Upon closing of the acquisition agreement, Bitgold will acquire the intellectual property and operating assets of GoldMoney in exchange for the issuance of 11,169,794 common shares in Bitgold, valuing the transaction at $51.9-million based on Bitgold's $4.65 closing price on May 21. The transaction is expected to close within 60 days. Potential benefits to shareholders include:

  • The integration of an innovative and high-integrity precious metal manager onto the Bitgold platform; preserving the relationships GoldMoney has established with its customers while enhancing GoldMoney services with payment technologies;
  • The addition of relationships and knowledge acquired over nearly a decade and a half operating an e-platform for global metal purchases and sales;
  • The addition of over $1.5-billion in customer assets onto the Aurum ledger, Bitgold's proprietary consolidated order book and trade engine;
  • The potential to develop new payment market relationships from over 135,000 signups on the GoldMoney website;
  • Applying new technology, analytics and location intelligent language/currency engine to expand beyond the markets which have produced over 3.1 billion British pounds in cumulative gross sales revenue for GoldMoney over the past decade;
  • Expected operating synergies from lower fixed overhead and lower working capital-intensive technologies applied to GoldMoney operations, without compromising premium customer service;
  • The addition of a strong shareholder base and three GoldMoney directors to the combined board of directors.

GoldMoney Network Ltd. is owned by well-established investors including James Turk, Iamgold Corp., Fleming family and Eric Sprott, founder of Sprott Inc. GoldMoney headquarters is located in Jersey, British Channel Islands. GoldMoney is regulated by the Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC) as a money services business. The JFSC is the main supervisory body that oversees and regulates Jersey's large financial services industry.

"We are thrilled by the potential of this Bitgold and GoldMoney combination, two companies with shared values and a common vision and purpose," said Roy Sebag, Bitgold chief executive officer. "You will not find a precious metals asset manager with more integrity than the one built by Geoff and James Turk and the GoldMoney team. With the technology of the Bitgold platform we can expand the GoldMoney legacy of trust, security and a client-centric purpose to new markets, growing from a much stronger base and benefiting all stakeholders. Combining the first global e-marketplace for gold with the latest and most innovative, we instantly become the world's largest and most active bullion money service."

GoldMoney is the registered business name of Net Transactions Ltd., which provides metal storage services for its customers. GoldMoney's affiliate company, Net-Gold Services Ltd., handles the purchase and sale of precious metals. Upon closing of the transaction, Bitgold will acquire from GoldMoney Network Ltd. all of the issued and outstanding shares of its three operating subsidiaries Net Transactions Ltd., Net-Gold Services Ltd. and Net Transactions (Jersey) Ltd. and all of the proprietary intellectual property of GoldMoney Network Ltd. in exchange for the issuance of 11,169,794 common shares of Bitgold, for which GoldMoney shareholders will be subject to a 12-month lockup. The parties have entered into an acquisition agreement and further announcements will be made on the status of the acquisition as it proceeds toward closing.

"The combination of Bitgold and GoldMoney has the potential to create significant value for the clients and shareholder of both companies," said James Turk, founder of GoldMoney. "We created GoldMoney with the vision of making gold accessible for savings and payments, a vision that Bitgold is rapidly expanding in a new era of cloud computing and mobile technology. Together we will continue to operate GoldMoney with the same level of security, integrity and premium customer service, but GoldMoney clients will now have access to expanded payment options, a gold debit card, and the many applications and features being developed by this innovative team. Josh and Roy understand money and gold as well as anyone I've met. Their energy, vision and dedication to expand this platform are truly remarkable. I am honoured to be joining the combined board along with two of my fellow GoldMoney directors, Mahendra Naik and Hector Fleming."

Bitgold and GoldMoney will host a joint conference call on Tuesday, May 26, further information to be released.

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