Barco exchanges its 33% share in ManiaBarco GmbH for new MANIA Technologie AG shares
Kortrijk, September 24, 2002. Subject to the approval of MANIA’s Supervisory Board a Letter of Intent has been drawn up in which BARCO NV agrees to exchange its 33% share in ManiaBarco GmbH for new MANIA Technologie AG shares on January 1, 2003. Thus Barco is making use of the put option included in the Joint Venture contract two years earlier than planned. To this purpose MANIA will increase its capital and issue 759,000 new shares without subscription rights. MANIA Technologie AG will then hold a 80% share in ManiaBarco GmbH.
ManiaBarco owns three companies in Germany, Belgium and the United States developing and producing imaging systems, optical inspection systems, plotters and software for the manufacturers of electrical printed circuit boards. Acquiring the majority shareholding is essential for the successful and operational integration of the company into the MANIA group and for the realization of important synergies.
After the transaction has been completed Barco will hold close to 20% of the MANIA Technologie AG shares.
BARCO has three key activities which are all active in Image Processing. BarcoProjection is in various markets of large screen visualization. BarcoView develops and manufactures display systems for life critical applications, while BarcoVision is in systems for visual inspection and quality control. In 2001, the entire BARCO group delivered a turnover of 792 million EUR. BARCO has a network of subsidiaries, distributors and agents in 97 countries throughout the world. BARCO has been quoted on the Brussels Stock Exchange since 1986, and is now quoted on Brussels/Euronext. BARCO is a BEL 20 and a Next 150 company and is a component of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes.
You can find more information about BARCO on the web: www.barco.com
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