ICP Solar announced a new symbol today ICPR on the NASDAQ OTC exchange effective today. Finally we have our own symbol and soon the name will also match ours. Reverse Takeover is how Microsoft and others went public yet they are not always understood well by the investing public, so here’s a stab at it.
Often times, smaller companies will try to attract funding through the establishment of a public company on the NASDAQ OTC exchange given that its much less costly and onerous on their small staff capabilities. Several of them don’t end up finding financing and thus simply become empty shells.
Since they have already gone through all the headache and time to become public, they can often be “folded” into a real company with real potential. In some cases the “IPO” is in effect a merger with the private company “taking over” the public one. In our case, we entered into a financing agreement that, when all is said and done, gives ICP Solar access to US$10M of funding as part of the transaction.
The management and Board of Directors resign, and the recipient of the funds and new public entity starts to operate right where the old one left off, as a public entity, beholding to shareholders, the SEC and other stakeholders like any other.
When we did the takeover, we inherited the old company name and symbol. Today the symbol changed and very shortly the name will follow (its just a matter of different processes according to US securities laws).
So we took advantage of this fact to also announce two very prestigious additions to our board. Paul Maycock and Dave McDowell.
Further additions will be announced shortly.
As you can see, I did not choose a “yes-board” for ICP Solar. Paul and Dave held our feet to the fire as we discussed strategic directions and potential deals. Having these two by my side will help ensure that the strategies that ICP Solar understakes in the future are going to help ensure our long term success. And if today’s market reaction to this little news is a gauge, it seems like we did something very right.
I’ll begin blogging a big more about what I feel is the future of our industry shortly after the New Year. For the rest of this month, I’ve got to focus on my deliverables…as a CEO now beholden to thousands of investors, a board and a growing team which is depending on me for vision and direction.
Sass