6th Sep 2006 08:04
Hightex Group PLC06 September 2006 FIRST DAY OF DEALINGS IN THE ENLARGED GROUP ON AIM Reverse Merger into West 175 Media Group Inc Hightex Group plc ("Hightex" or the "Company") is pleased to announce itsadmission to trading on AIM today following completion of the reverse mergerinto West 175 Media Group Inc. ("West") as originally announced on 4 August2006. Hightex has also completed the acquisitions of Hightex International AGand its subsidiaries ("HTI Group") and SolarNext AG ("SolarNext"). Highlights • Hightex is a newly incorporated English public limited company established for the purposes of effecting the reverse merger between West, HTI Group and SolarNext; • West, a shell company with approximately £2 million of cash, merged with the wholly owned subsidiary of Hightex, Hightex Americas LLC, under the laws of the States of California and Delaware. Former shareholders of West have been allotted new Ordinary Shares in Hightex, and West has ceased to exist as a separate legal entity; • Separately, Hightex acquired HTI Group and SolarNext in exchange for the allotment of new Hightex Shares (the "Acquisitions"); • To raise additional funds for Hightex and to finance both transaction costs and the ongoing working capital requirements of Hightex, on 3 August 2006 Ludgate Investments Limited conditionally placed 15,000,000 new Hightex Shares with institutional and other investors at a placing price of 10 pence per share, raising £1,500,000 before expenses (the "Hightex Placing"). This valued the enlarged group at approximately £12 million at the placing price. The Hightex Placing became unconditional on completion of the West Merger, the Acquisitions and admission of the issued share capital as enlarged by the Acquisitions and the Hightex Placing ("Admission"); • Pursuant to the Hightex Placing, warrants over 7,800,000 Hightex shares have been issued to placees at a subscription price of 11p per Hightex Share and exercisable in the period expiring on the second anniversary of Admission; • On Admission, former shareholders of West own 32 per cent. of the enlarged ordinary share capital of Hightex, the former owners of HTI Group own approximately 55 per cent., and the placees who acquired shares pursuant to the Hightex Placing own approximately 13 per cent. HTI Group and SolarNext • HTI Group is one of the world's leading designers, producers and installers of polymer membrane solutions to the building and construction industries. It currently operates in Switzerland, Germany, the UK, Poland, Thailand, Australia and the United States; • Projects that HTI Group (or in the case of projects before its formation, its management) has completed include: the passenger concourses at the New Bangkok International Airport, Thailand (2006); the new Grandstand at Royal Ascot Racecourse, UK (2006); the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany for the 2006 World Cup (2004); the Pusan Stadium in South Korea (2002); the membrane facade at the Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai, UAE (1997); and the Mound Stand at Lord's Cricket Ground, UK (1988); • SolarNext is chiefly focused on the development of applications in the generation of clean energy; solar cooling; the prevention of heat from entering homes, offices and other structures; and the desalination of water; • Hightex envisages that, over time, the polymer membrane structures business of HTI can be combined with the solar business of SolarNext to form a third business, the Intelligent Buildings Division, focused particularly on buildings such as offices, hotels, visitor centres and airports, which can use products derived both from SolarNext as well as the polymer membranes currently supplied by HTI; • HTI Group has recently won its first major contract in Australia, to design and install the roof at the new Gold Coast Stadium in Brisbane for a total value of €4.2 million. Dr Charles DesForges, Non-Executive Chairman of Hightex Group, said: "Today's admission to AIM marks a significant step forward' for Hightex and welook forward to growing the polymer membrane business and developing the solarbusiness to deliver value for all of our shareholders. "It is exciting to be able to begin our life as a listed company with thehigh-profile contract for the Gold Coast Stadium, our first in Australia." The Company's nominated adviser and broker is Teather & Greenwood Limited. For further information please contact: Hightex Group plc Klaus-Michael Koch (Chief Executive Officer) +49 8051 68880Charles Sebag-Montefiore (Non-Executive Director) 020 7236 0973 Teather & Greenwood LimitedJeff Keating / Sindre Ottesen 0207 426 9000 M CommunicationsPatrick d'Ancona / Eleanor Williamson 0207 153 1530 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Hightex Group