Unity Wireless Corp., a developer of wireless systems and coverage-enhancement solutions, closed its acquisition of Celerica Ltd., an Israel-based developer of coverage enhancement solutions for 2G and 3G wireless networks.
Ilan Kenig, president and CEO of Unity Wireless, commented, "We are pleased to announce the closing of this transaction and welcome the Celerica employees into the Unity Wireless family. We are looking forward to completing our strategic acquisition plan, previously announced May 16, 2006, over the next several weeks and presenting a much stronger company to our market."
The acquisition of Celerica brings to Unity Wireless a unique line of coverage enhancement solutions that are being used today by operators of UMTS 3G networks in Europe and Asia. Often referred to in the industry as "distributed antenna systems" or "remote RF heads" mainly utilizing unlicensed free space optics (FSO) and 5.8 GHz microwave links, these systems allow operators to cost-effectively expand their coverage footprint by remotely distributing the capacity of centrally located base stations. In addition, several elements within the Celerica product lines are also marketable as stand alone products.
"As a result of this transaction, we are seeing the potential of significantly increasing our opportunities with existing customers," said Nissim Atias, CEO of Celerica Ltd. "We are very excited about this transaction and looking forward to play a role in a much bigger organization."
Celerica had audited 2005 revenues of US$2.2 M, a loss of US$6.1 M, and had positive net assets of US$2.9 M at December 31, 2005. The company has had the backing of an international group of venture capital investors whose investments in the development of Celerica's coverage enhancement products exceeded US$30 M.
"Restructuring Celerica is somewhat complete and the capital burn-rate that existed prior to our transaction has been reduced significantly. As we have said previously, the transactions currently underway are expected to create greater economies of scale across the entire operations infrastructure and are pleased with our efforts made so far," added Dallas Pretty, CFO of Unity Wireless.
Terms of the acquisition were unchanged from the initial terms announced on February 10, 2006, whereby Unity Wireless acquired Celerica Ltd. for preferred shares that upon conversion will represent 20 million shares of common stock.
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