WALNUT, Calif., Dec. 1, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- VIASPACE Inc.
(OTC: VSPC) today announced that it has signed a nonbinding Letter
of Intent (LOI) to acquire luxury cosmetics company, Elite
Therapeutics (www.elitetherapeutics.com). VIASPACE and Elite
Therapeutics have agreed to carefully examine the details and
potential benefits of an all-stock acquisition with an anticipated
closing in the first quarter of 2015.
VIASPACE Chairman, Dr. Kevin
Schewe is the founder and majority shareholder of Elite
Therapeutics which is based in Denver,
Colorado. Dr. Schewe discussed the concept and potential
benefits of the acquisition: "There are three primary motivating
factors driving us to look at this potential acquisition:
accelerating VIASPACE's revenues in 2015 and beyond, creating
synergy and diversity for greater long-term shareholder value and
establishing an eventual succession plan for the leadership of the
company."
"Elite Therapeutics was founded in 2007 as Bad Love Cosmetics
Company, LLC and began doing business as Elite Therapeutics with
high quality, results-driven, medical-grade cosmetics in late 2010.
After four full years in retail and wholesale business, Elite
Therapeutics is debt-free, has grown steadily at 50% or more per
year and management believes the business' revenue trajectory will
grow further in 2015 and possibly become profitable as well. Elite
Therapeutics has an active, full line of luxury products and
associated inventory. Bad Love Cosmetics has a cutting edge line of
products in development for launch in 2015 and beyond."
Dr. Schewe continued, "VIASPACE wishes to explore ways to
increase revenue and accelerate shareholder value; and in addition,
VIASPACE and its shareholders may benefit if it grows the size of
its shareholder base and shareholder audience. Combining revenues
from Elite Therapeutics and VIASPACE for 2015 and beyond has the
potential of substantially increasing revenues. Combining the
global and diverse growth opportunities for both companies may help
accelerate overall corporate value."
"Elite Therapeutics has a large, loyal and growing customer
base, and many of these clients and interested parties may welcome
the opportunity to be able to invest in Elite Therapeutics as
part of a larger publicly traded company. This new, potential
investor audience would have the opportunity to invest in Elite
Therapeutics, and in doing so, would receive a VIASPACE stock share
(VSPC) that also includes a leading-edge global company focused on
green, renewable bioenergy, biofuels, biomass materials and animal
feed."
"The cosmetics industry has a global sales volume of
$300 billion per year and is growing
at 4.5% per year. Europe and the US represent the bulk of
sales, but the fastest growth is in Japan, China,
Southeast Asia and India. When I started Elite Therapeutics, my
goal was to create and grow a physician-driven, luxury-niche
cosmetics company with a value in the $100-$400 million range in 10-12 years. When I
became Chairman of the Board of Directors of VIASPACE, my goal for
VIASPACE was to grow it into a global biomass, bioenergy and animal
feed company with an ultimate value in the $500 million range. I see synergy and security in
a combined company dedicated to grow stronger, faster and to create
revenues, cash flow and shareholder value. Our combined product
lines of bioenergy and cosmetics are both global in
reach."
Elite Therapeutics CEO, Mr. Christopher
Turner, commented, "I have worked for Elite Therapeutics
since 2009 and am a long-term VIASPACE shareholder. I fully support
examining the overall potential of combining these two companies.
We use plastic containers for nearly all our products and I could
see having a plastic container manufacturing site powered by Giant
King Grass generated electricity and
creating plastic containers derived from GKG plant-based plastics.
I spend nearly half my time in California and am willing to assist Dr.
Kukkonen in responding to potential new VIASPACE clients as we seek
to grow a combined company. I see many possible financial and
business outreach advantages to both companies if they chose to
combine forces."
Dr. Schewe continued, "I now look at both VIASPACE and Elite
Therapeutics as an eventual 'exit strategy' from my daily, clinical
practice of radiation oncology. I am now 58 years old and I look
forward in the future to joining the combined company full-time.
Dr. Kukkonen is 69 years old. There needs to be a succession plan
in place for Dr. Kukkonen's eventual retirement. Dr. Kukkonen and I
recently met to discuss this topic in detail and our timelines
coincide very nicely. I believe that I am fully capable of leading
a combined company when the time is right. There are no imminent
plans for a leadership change. Dr. Kukkonen will continue to serve
as CEO and I will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board for
now, but we agree on the principles and timing of a succession
plan."
VIASPACE CEO, Dr. Carl Kukkonen,
added, "Dr. Schewe's business and financial leadership has been
crucial for VIASPACE. He is as committed as I am to making our
Giant King Grass bioenergy and animal feed business lines a
resounding, global success. I believe that our power plant project
in Nicaragua will soon set us on a
course for unprecedented success in green, renewable electricity
production. We want to reward our long-term shareholders for
staying with us and we want to significantly enlarge our overall
shareholder base. I believe it will be worthwhile to examine and
explore how a combined company would help us to accomplish all our
goals expeditiously."
Dr. Schewe concluded, "The goal here is to significantly
increase VIASPACE's revenues by succeeding in two, large growth
industries. There is a lot of meaning in a company name. Elite
Therapeutics strives to produce and sell the 'best of the best' in
luxury and medical-grade cosmetics. I encourage all interested
investors to explore the Elite Therapeutics website
(www.elitetherapeutics.com) and read the product press reviews and
client testimonials. I also love the name of our company
'VIASPACE'. While we have our feet solidly on the ground in
'growing our electricity' with Giant King Grass, we are 'reaching
for the stars' in the green, renewable biomass, bioenergy and
animal feed industries. We will carefully and deliberately examine
all the potential benefits of VIASPACE acquiring Elite Therapeutics
with the overarching, singular focus to grow the value of our
company and reward all of our shareholders in return."
About VIASPACE Inc.
VIASPACE grows renewable Giant KingTM Grass as a
low-carbon fuel for clean electricity generation; for
environmentally friendly energy pellets; and as a feedstock for
bio-methane production and for green cellulosic biofuels,
biochemicals and biomaterials. Giant King
Grass is a proprietary, high yield, dedicated biomass energy
crop. Giant King Grass when it is
cut frequently at 4 to 9 feet tall is also excellent animal feed.
The USDA granted approval for planting Giant King Grass throughout
the US and cooperates in exporting by performing the required
inspections and issuing the phytosanitary certificate needed for
import into foreign countries. Giant King
Grass is being grown in California, Hawaii, St. Croix Virgin Islands, Nicaragua, South
Africa, China, Myanmar, Pakistan, Guyana, Jamaica and Philippines. For more
information, please go to www.VIASPACE.com or contact Dr.
Jan Vandersande, Director of
Communications, at 800-517-8050 or IR@VIASPACE.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
Information in this news release includes forward-looking
statements. These forward-looking statements relate to future
events or future performance and involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results,
levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially
different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking
statements. Such factors include, without limitation, risks that
the Elite Therapeutics acquisition may never occur, or that even if
consummated, the acquisition would not have the synergistic or
other benefits mentioned in this press release. Such factors
also include, without limitation, risks outlined in our periodic
filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including
the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013 and quarterly and current
reports filed since such Annual Report, and other factors over
which VIASPACE has little or no control.
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SOURCE VIASPACE Inc.