Investment in Wanelo (5313S)
November 22 2011 - 4:31AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMTMT
RNS Number : 5313S
TMT Investments PLC
22 November 2011
22 November 2011
TMT INVESTMENTS PLC
("TMT" or the "Company")
Investment in Wanelo Inc.
The Board of TMT is pleased to announce an investment in Wanelo
Inc. ("Wanelo"), an early-stage social e-store administered by its
community.
Wanelo Inc. is a Palo Alto (California, USA) based startup,
founded by Deena Varshavskaya and Sarvjeet Ahuja and incorporated
in Delaware in August 2011. Deena Varshavskaya is a serial
entrepreneur whose previous company, Dynamik Interactive, provided
user experience design services to such Fortune 500 companies as
Nickelodeon and Disney. She attended Cornell University. Sarvjeet
Ahuja is a technology leader and entrepreneur, who previously led
large technical teams in developing web, mobile and video
conferencing solutions for enterprise clients. Sarvjeet serves as a
technology mentor at The Morpheus (an India-based start-up investor
and incubator) and advises and mentors many startups.
At Wanelo.com, users post and collect products, and follow
people and stores they like. Launched in 2010, the site currently
attracts around a million visitors per month. Wanelo aims at
creating a truly social online marketplace and to transform the way
people shop for fashion, home and lifestyle products. Wanelo is
getting high traction and currently acquires over 2,000 new
registered users per day and generates over 7.3 million page views
monthly.
TMT has acquired 512,376 new preferred shares representing 5.66%
of the Company's equity capital (post-transaction) for an aggregate
consideration of $350,000. Definitive agreements for the
transaction were entered into, and the transaction was completed,
yesterday.
The agreements between the parties include pre-emption rights,
liquidation preferences and other rights and protections in favour
of TMT customary for preferred stock holders. The acquired
preferred shares may be converted at any time into Wanelo's common
shares.
Wanelo did not have any accounts in respect of the year ended 31
December 2010.
TMT's investment in Wanelo is in line with the Company's
strategy to enter the sizable e-commerce market, which continues to
demonstrate impressive growth rates. TMT believes that Wanelo is
well placed to become a leading "new generation" e-commerce player
providing the link between the "traditional" e-commerce model and
the need for both suppliers and buyers to interact effectively in
the social environment.
22 November 2011
For further information contact:
TMT INVESTMENTS PLC +44(0)1534 281 843
Mr. Alexander Selegenev alexander.selegenev@tmtinvestments.com
www.tmtinvestments.com
ZAI Corporate Finance
Ltd
NOMAD and Broker
Marc Cramsie/Irina Lomova 020 7060 2220
About TMT Investments
The Investment Policy & Strategy
The Company's objective is to generate an attractive rate of
return for Shareholders, predominantly through capital
appreciation, by taking advantage of opportunities to invest in the
TMT Sector. The Company aims to provide equity and equity-related
investment capital, such as convertible loans, to private companies
which are seeking capital for growth and development, consolidation
or acquisition, or as a pre-IPO financing.
In addition, the Company intends to invest in publicly traded
equities which have securities listed on a stock exchange or
over-the-counter market. These investments may be in combination
with additional debt or equity-related financing, and in
appropriate circumstances in collaboration with other value added
financial and/or strategic investors.
The Company is not geographically restricted in terms of where
it will consider making investments. It will consider any
geographical area, to the extent that the investment fits within
the Company's investment criteria. The Directors and Consultants
have expertise in emerging markets and, in particular, in Russia
and the Commonwealth of Independent States. The Company will not be
subject to any borrowing or leveraging limits.
Private Companies
The Company will target small and mid-sized companies and will
seek to secure at least blocking stakes and board representation,
where it considers that the Company and/or an investee company
would benefit from such an appointment. The Company will consider
making equity investments in lower than blocking stakes only where
it sees ways to increase the stakes to blocking or controlling
stakes at a later date. Each investment is expected to be at least
US$250,000.
The investments targeted by the Company will aim to support
rapidly-growing private companies to increase market share and
achieve long-term shareholder value. It is envisaged that if the
Company invested in a private company prior to that company listing
on a stock market, the Company would retain a part of its
investment in the listed entity going forward. The Company intends
to work closely with the management of each investee company to
create value by focusing on driving growth through revenue
creation, margin enhancement and extracting cost efficiencies, as
well as implementing appropriate capital structures to enhance
returns.
Public Companies
When investing in public equities, the Company will seek to
select companies with a dominant market share or strong growth
potential in their respective segments. No restrictions will be
placed on the size of public companies in which the Company may
make an investment. The Directors intend to make investments in
companies or businesses with attractive valuation, growth
potential, with competent and motivated management, which enjoy
brand recognition, have scalable business models, have strong
relationships with customers and have in place transparent
accounting policies.
Realisation of Returns
The Directors will, when appropriate, consider how best to
realise value for Shareholders whether through a trade sale,
flotation or secondary refinancing of the investee companies. The
proposed exit route will form a key consideration of the initial
investment analysis.
The Company expects to derive returns on investments principally
through long-term capital gains and/or the payment of dividends by
investees. The primary ways in which the Company expects to realise
these returns include: (a) the sale or merger of a company; (b) the
sale of securities of a company by means of public or private
offerings; and (c) the disposal of public equity investments
through the stock exchanges on which they are listed.
For private investee companies the Company believes that its
typical investment holding period should provide sufficient time
for investee companies to adequately benefit from the capital and
operational improvements resulting from the Company's investment.
The targeted holding period shall be reviewed on a regular basis by
the Company, but it is expected that this will typically be between
two to four years. For public equities the Company's objective is
to maximise capital appreciation. Following the acquisition, the
Company will continue to conduct extensive research and monitoring
of the investment. Importance will be placed on the timing of any
disposal which will follow a thorough review of market conditions
and those reports and sources that are available to investors.
Should the Company consider that the capital appreciation of a
particular public equity investment has reached its peak or is
likely to or has begun to decline, then the Company will consider
the sale of that investment.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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