Zwipe rights issue is covered by subscription and guarantee commitments of up to at least 41.9 percent and enters into agreement to extend outstanding convertible loan by 12 months
THIS PRESS RELEASE MAY NOT BE MADE PUBLIC, PUBLISHED OR DISTRIBUTED, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO AUSTRALIA, BELARUS, HONG KONG, JAPAN, CANADA, NEW ZEALAND, RUSSIA, SWITZERLAND, SINGAPORE, SOUTH AFRICA, THE UNITED STATES OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH SUCH ACTIONS, WHOLLY OR IN PART, WOULD BE UNLAWFUL. THIS PRESS RELEASE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO BUY SECURITIES IN ZWIPE AS. SEE ALSO THE SECTION "IMPORTANT INFORMATION" BELOW IN THIS DOCUMENT.
OSLO, NORWAY – 3 DECEMBER 2024 – Reference is made to the stock exchange announcement published by Zwipe AS (the “Company”) on 7 November 2024, in which the Company announced that its board of directors had resolved to propose that the Company carries out a new issue of units, each consisting of one share and one warrant, with preferential rights for existing shareholders with gross proceeds of up to NOK 39.7 million (the "Rights Issue").
The Board of Directors has received subscription and guarantee commitments from certain existing shareholders and external investors. Thus, the Rights Issue is covered by subscription and guarantee commitments up to at least 41.9 percent, equal to NOK 16.6 million.
Subscription and Guarantee Commitments
The Company has received subscription commitments from Board members Jörgen Lantto and Dennis Jones, amounting to approximately 4.5 percent of the Rights Issue.
To the extent the Rights Issue is not fully subscribed, a consortium of guarantors, including board member David Chew, has agreed to subscribe and pay for units in the Rights Issue up to an aggregate subscription rate corresponding of 28 percent of the Rights Issue (the “Bottom Guarantee Commitments”). The consortium providing the Bottom Guarantee Commitments will receive a 15 percent underwriting fee.
In addition, the Company and Fenja Capital (the “Top Guarantor”) has agreed that the Top Guarantor shall subscribe and pay for units in the Rights Issue up to 13.9 percent of the Rights Issue (the “Top Guarantee Commitment”). The Top Guarantor will receive an 8 percent underwriting fee.
Further information about the subscription commitments, the Bottom Guarantee Commitments and the Top Guarantee Commitment will be provided in the prospectus, to be approved by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority on or about 5 December 2024.
Convertible Loan and Use of Proceeds
The Top Guarantee Commitment will be fulfilled through the partial set-off of NOK 5,514,472 of the Company’s outstanding convertible loan of NOK 10,514,472 (the “2023 Convertible Loan”). If the Top Guarantor is allotted units amounting to less than NOK 5,514,472, the balance between the allotted amount and NOK 5,514,472 shall be paid back in cash by the Company to the Top Guarantor, using proceeds from the Rights Issue. The accrued interest under the 2023 Convertible Loan, coupled with NOK 1,000,000 from the 2023 Convertible Loan, will be set-off against the Top Guarantor’s commitment under the Bottom Guarantee Commitments.
To accommodate the Top Guarantee Commitment, the use of proceeds outlined in the Company’s announcement on 7 November 2024 has been revised.
The remaining balance of the 2023 Convertible Loan, amounting to NOK 4.0 million, will be extended for another 12 months in the form of a new convertible loan (the “New Convertible Loan”). This arrangement ensures the full settlement of the 2023 Convertible Loan. The New Convertible Loan will carry an annual interest rate of STIBOR + 10 percent.
The issuance of the New Convertible Loan is contingent on the approval of a board authorization at the extraordinary general meeting (“EGM”) scheduled for 3 December 2024, or alternatively, the approval at a subsequent EGM that either authorizes the Company’s board of directors to issue the New Convertible Loan or directly resolves to issue the New Convertible Loan. As consideration for the Top Guarantor agreeing to subscribe for the New Convertible Loan, the Top Guarantor shall receive a fee of NOK 200,000 from the Company (the “Arrangement Fee”). The Arrangement Fee shall be added to the total nominal amount of the New Convertible Loan and not be paid in cash, which means that the total nominal amount of the New Convertible Loan shall amount to a total of NOK 4,200,000.
The Company has also issued 60,000,000 contractual stock options to the Top Guarantor (the “Stock Options”). The Stock Options can be exercised up until 31 December 2026 and each Stock Option entitles to subscribe to one (1) new share in Zwipe at a price of 70 percent of VWAP during the ten trading days that immediately precede every third month-end, starting in April 2025, however no lower than the quota value of the Company’s share and not higher than 150 percent of the subscription price in the Rights Issue. The Stock Options can be exercised on 30 April 2025 at the earliest.
The issuance of shares upon exercise of the Share Options is contingent upon either a resolution by the Company’s general meeting to issue the corresponding shares in accordance with the Norwegian Private Limited Liability Companies Act, or the Company's board of directors issuing the shares pursuant to an authorization granted under the Norwegian Private Limited Liability Companies Act.
Changes to item 5 of the EGM notice
The Bottom Guarantee Commitments and Top Guarantee Commitment necessitate changes to resolution 5 proposed for the EGM on 3 December 2024. As these changes do not affect shareholders’ preferential rights under Section 10-4 of the Norwegian Private Limited Liability Companies Act, the Company’s board of directors has determined that these amendments are in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders. An updated proposal for item 5 in the notice for the EGM will be distributed prior to the meeting.
Robert Puskaric, CEO of Zwipe comments:
"We are very grateful for the continued support from existing shareholders and new investors. By securing part of the rights issue, the management team can focus on developing Zwipe further and continuing our sales efforts.”
Advisor
Zwipe has engaged Bergs Securities AB and Advokatfirmaet Schjødt AS as financial and legal advisors respectively in connection with the Rights Issue.
For further information contact:
Robert Puskaric, CEO of Zwipe
E-mail: ir@zwipe.com
This information is subject to the disclosure requirements in the Market Abuse
Regulation (EU 596/2014) and the Norwegian Securities Trading Act section 5-12,
and is information that Zwipe AS is obligated to make public pursuant to the
continuing obligations of companies admitted to trading on Euronext Growth Oslo
(Euronext Growth Oslo Rule Book - Part II) and on Nasdaq First North Growth
Market. Certified Adviser on Nasdaq First North is FNCA Sweden AB, info@fnca.se.
The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact
person set out below, at 08:00 on 3 December 2024.
About Zwipe
Zwipe believes the inherent uniqueness of every person is the key to a safer future. We work with great passion across networks of international organizations, industries and cultures to make convenience safe and secure. We are pioneering next-generation biometric card and wearables technology for payment and physical & logical access control and identification solutions. We promise our customers and partners deep insight and frictionless solutions,
ensuring a seamless user experience with our innovative biometric products and services. Zwipe is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with a global presence.
To learn more, visit http://www.zwipe.com
Important information
Publication, release or distribution of this press release may in certain jurisdictions be subject to legal restrictions and persons in the jurisdictions where this press release has been made public or distributed should be informed of and follow such legal restrictions. The recipient of this press release is responsible for using this press release and the information herein in accordance with applicable rules in each jurisdiction. This press release does not constitute an offer or solicitation to buy or subscribe for any securities in Zwipe in any jurisdiction, either from Zwipe or from anyone else.
This press release is not a prospectus according to the definition in Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 (the "Prospectus Regulation") and has not been approved by any regulatory authority in any jurisdiction. A prospectus will be prepared by the Company and published on the Company's website after the prospectus has been reviewed and approved by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Sw. Finansinspektionen).
This press release does not constitute an offer or solicitation to buy or subscribe for securities in the United States. The securities mentioned herein may not be sold in the United States without registration, or without an exemption from registration, under the U.S. Securities Act from 1933 (the "Securities Act"), and may not be offered or sold within the United States without being registered, covered by an exemption from, or part of a transaction that is not subject to the registration requirements according to the Securities Act. There is no intention to register any securities mentioned herein in the United States or to issue a public offering of such securities in the United States. The information in this press release may not be released, published, copied, reproduced or distributed, directly or indirectly, wholly or in part, in or to Australia, Belarus, Hong Kong, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, Russia, Switzerland, Singapore, South Africa, the United States or any other jurisdiction where the release, publication or distribution of this information would violate current rules or where such an action is subject to legal restrictions or would require additional registration or other measures beyond those that follow from Swedish and Norwegian law. Actions in contravention of this instruction may constitute a violation of applicable securities legislation.
Offers to the public will be permitted in Sweden and Norway from and including the date of approval of the prospectus by the competent authority in Sweden and the competent authority in Norway has been notified in accordance with the Prospectus Regulation, through to and including the end of the subscription period in the Rights Issue.
Forward-looking statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements related to the Company's intentions, estimates or expectations with regard to the Company's future results, financial position, liquidity, development, outlook, estimated growth, strategies and opportunities as well as the markets in which the Company is active. Forward-looking statements are statements that do not refer to historical facts and can be identified by the use of terms such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "estimates," "will," "may," "implies," "should," "could" and, in each case, their negative, or comparable terminology. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based on various assumptions, which in several cases are based on further assumptions. Although the Company believes that the assumptions reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, there is no guarantee that they will occur or that they are correct. Since these assumptions are based on assumptions or estimates and involve risks and uncertainties, actual results or outcomes, for many different reasons, may differ materially from those what is stated in the forward-looking statements. Due to such risks, uncertainties, eventualities and other significant factors, actual events may differ materially from the expectations that expressly or implicitly are contained in this press release through the forward-looking statements. The Company does not guarantee that the assumptions which serve as a basis for the forward-looking statements in this press release are correct, and each reader of the press release should not rely on the forward-looking statements in this press release. The information, opinions and forward-looking statements that expressly or implicitly are stated herein are provided only as of the date of this press release and may change. Neither the Company nor any other party will review, update, confirm or publicly announce any revision of any forward-looking statement to reflect events that occur or circumstances that arise with respect to the contents of this press release, beyond what is required by law or Euronext Growth Oslo or Nasdaq First North Growth Market's rules for issuers.