Biometrics firm Tactilis acquired by Global Invacom Group

Biometric system-on-card maker Tactilis has been acquired by satellite communications equipment provider Global Invacom Group (GInva) in a deal valuing it at $200 million, The Straights Times reports. GInva will acquire the entire issued and paid-up share capital of Tactilis on a “willing-buyer and willing-seller basis,” starting with an initial investment of $2 million for 2 percent of the company’s share capital through a subscription for convertible notes.

Tactilis offers a biometric central card management system, Tactilis Touch, which can provide multi-factor authentication with fingerprint, face, and iris recognition. The company began making volume shipments of biometric smart cards with fingerprint technology from NEXT Biometrics in August.

The subscription notes have a coupon rate of 5 percent, and GInva can extend the subscription up to $8 million in additional notes. The remaining $190 to $198 million will be satisfied by the issue of new GInva shares at $0.15 each. GInva is planning to issue up to $20 million in unsecured redeemable structured convertible notes to several of its funds to raise cash for the acquisition.

“The prominent features of the Tactilis Touch include a sensor capable of capturing 20-40 minutia of fingerprints, which is more than the five-eight minutia captured by standard fingerprint sensors,” a GInva spokesperson said. “It has the ability to drive multiple applications and contains large memory space of up to four gigabytes. The Tactilis Touch is produced by a unique proprietary molding process which enables cost efficient manufacturing of the smart cards.”

Tactilis Touch communicates with devices and servers through Bluetooth, WiFi, NFC, or GPS, and supports remote updates, according to the report.

GInva’s board hopes to remove the company from the Singapore Exchange watch list, where it was placed after recording a volume-weighted average price below $0.20 and average daily market capitalization of less than $40 million over the six months prior to June. Trading in GInva has been on hold since last Thursday in anticipation of the announcement.

The deal is subject to conditions and shareholder approval, and may result in a reverse takeover. GInva anticipates it will be finalized in Q3 2019.

Article Topics

acquisitions  |  biometric cards  |  biometrics  |  multifactor authentication  |  smart card  |  Tactilis