.png){kind=small}
SES-imagotag (Euronext: SESL, FR0010282822), the world No. 1 in digital price tags, and E Ink® Holdings, “E Ink” (8069.TW), the leading innovator of electronic ink technology, today announced a strategic collaboration to accelerate and expand their common growth in the retail IoT market solutions. As part of this strategic collaboration E Ink has agreed to complete a €26 million investment in SES-imagotag in form of a reserved capital increase of SES-imagotag that will be submitted to the approval of the extraordinary general meeting of SES-imagotag on June 22, 2018.
E Ink and SES-imagotag have collaborated for years to provide the best technology solution for smart retail tags, especially with the significant achievements in implementing E Ink Spectra™ products including red & yellow in electronic retail tags. The industrial and sales partnerships foreseen by E Ink and SES-imagotag aim to accelerate product efforts in the fields of electronic paper and smart retail applications, the core expertise of the respective companies. E Ink will capitalize on its ePaper values for IoT applications and SES-imagotag will accelerate its go-to-market by delivering worldwide the best and most effective solutions for smart retail.
“E Ink aims to strengthen its business through building up closer partnership with players in the smart retail ecosystem. We are optimistic about the development of ePaper display applications in retail industry, and delighted to deepen the collaboration with SES-imagotag through this investment”, said Johnson Lee, the President of E Ink Holdings. “With SES-imagotag’s worldwide leading expertise on smart retail solutions, E Ink and SES-imagotag will expand the ePaper display applications in the smart retail sector together.”
“This partnership moves E Ink’s relationship with SES-imagotag to the next level”, commented Thierry Gadou, the Group Chairman and CEO of SES-imagotag. “We build together a fascinating technology and we know that Retail IoT market is really accelerating. This alliance is long-term and our synergies are countless.”
This strategic relationship is backed by the execution between E Ink and SES-imagotag of a subscription agreement in relation to the subscription by Yuen-Yu Investment Co. Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of E-ink, to a reserved capital increase of SES-imagotag for an aggregate amount of circa €26 million, at a price per share of €30, representing 866,666 new shares of the company and circa 6% of its share capital and voting rights. The completion of this capital increase remains subject to the approval by the general meeting of SES-imagotag, and is expected to be completed shortly after such approval. As part of this strategic partnership and equity investment, E ink will appoint an observer (censeur) to the Board of directors of SES-imagotag and will commit to a two-year lock-up and standstill undertaking regarding its investment in SES-imagotag save for customary exceptions.
This transaction underlines E Ink as a strategic partner of SES-imagotag for the supply of electronic ink technology for smart retail use, and mutually, SES-imagotag as one of the major suppliers of smart tags in the smart retail sector.
Forward-looking statements
Certain information included in this press release are not historical facts but are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on current beliefs, expectations and assumptions, including, without limitation, assumptions regarding present and future business strategies and the environment in which the Group operates, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results or other events, to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.
