BIO-key to Significantly Expand Customer Reach and Talent in EMEA Region via Definitive Agreement to Acquire Authentication Solutions Provider Swivel Secure Europe
February 03 2022 - 8:05AM
BIO-key International, Inc. (NASDAQ: BKYI), an innovative provider
of workforce and customer identity and Access Management (IAM) and
Identity-Bound Biometric (IBB) solutions, today announced that it
has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Swivel Secure Europe,
S.A (SSE), a privately-held IAM solutions provider based in Madrid,
Spain serving the European, Middle East and African (EMEA) markets.
The transaction is expected to close in February and be accretive
to BIO-key’s earnings, excluding one-time acquisition-related costs
and ongoing purchase accounting amortization expenses. On a
preliminary unaudited basis, SSE generated over $3.1M in revenue
and $578K in operating income in fiscal/calendar 2021.
As a result of the acquisition, BIO-key will add a sales and
support team with extensive customer and industry contacts
throughout the EMEA region. Alex Rocha, SSE’s sole stockholder and
Chief Executive Officer, will also assume responsibility for EMEA
operations reporting directly to BIO-key’s Chairman & CEO.
The acquisition will also expand BIO-key’s thriving Channel
Alliance Partner (CAP) program by adding SSE’s technology
partnerships with SAP, SailPoint and RedHat, as well as global
reseller partners Arrow, Deloitte, Accenture, Logicalis, IBM,
Telefonica and Wipro. These partners are highly-experienced in the
benefits and uses of multi -factor authentication (MFA) and can
offer valuable guidance on how customers can leverage BIO-key’s
solutions.
“Swivel Secure Europe and its talented team have established a
deep network of partners and customers across Europe, the Middle
East and Africa, and this acquisition significantly strengthens
BIO-key’s presence in those regions,” said BIO-key Chairman &
CEO Michael DePasquale. “We are seeing cyber attacks and threats
grow in sophistication and scale and as a result, demand for proven
IAM solutions continues to grow. We look forward to expanding our
global sales footprint and to supporting Swivel Secure Europe’s
customers and partners through an award-winning and cost-effective
portfolio of existing and new IAM and identity-bound biometric
solutions.”
“BIO-key is a respected leader in identity and access management
and civil identification in the North America, Africa and Asia,”
said Mr. Rocha. “We’re excited to bring our team, customers and
partners to join BIO-key in helping expand its worldwide footprint.
We have longstanding relationships with many customers and believe
that this combination will deliver improved capabilities and
service levels for customers globally.”
BIO-key, through SSE, will be the exclusive distributor of
Swivel Secure products throughout EMEA and will assume
relationships with more than 300 customers spanning
highly-complementary markets including education, government,
banking, finance, healthcare and manufacturing. The need for
multi-factor authentication (MFA) is significant in EMEA, where
enterprises require the ability to fully control and monitor secure
access by employees, students, customers and partners.
SSE’s customers will be able to leverage the full portfolio of
award-winning products including AuthControl® Sentry, AuthControl
Enterprise and AuthControl MSP as well as BIO-key’s full line of
software and hardware solutions.
About BIO-key International, Inc.
(www.BIO-key.com) BIO-key has over two decades of expertise in
providing authentication technology for thousands of organizations
and millions of users and is revolutionizing authentication with
biometric-centric, multi-factor identity and access management
(IAM) solutions, including its PortalGuard IAM solution, that
provides convenient and secure access to devices, information,
applications, and high-value transactions. BIO-key’s patented
software and hardware solutions, with industry leading biometric
capabilities, enable large-scale on-premises and cloud-based
Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS) solutions, as well as customized
enterprise solutions.
BIO-key Safe Harbor Statement All statements
contained in this press release other than statements of historical
facts are “forward-looking statements” as defined in the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the “Act”). The words
“estimate,” "project," "intends," "expects," "anticipates,"
"believes," and similar expressions are intended to identify
forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are
made based on management's beliefs, as well as assumptions made by,
and information currently available to, management pursuant to the
"safe harbor" provisions of the Act. These statements are not
guarantees of future performance or events and are subject to risks
and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ
materially from those included within or implied by such
forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include,
without limitation, risks associated with proposed acquisition
including satisfaction of all closing conditions, unexpected costs
or delays in integrating SSE operations into our operations,
realization of operational synergies, SSE continuing to operate
consistent with historical results, and retaining key employees and
partners of SSE, as well as more general risks and uncertainties
including our history of losses and limited revenue; our ability to
raise additional capital; our ability to protect our intellectual
property; changes in business conditions; changes in our sales
strategy and product development plans; changes in the marketplace;
continued services of our executive management team; security
breaches; competition in the biometric technology industry; market
acceptance of biometric products generally and our products under
development; our ability to execute and deliver on contracts in
Africa; our ability to expand into Asia, Africa and other foreign
markets; the duration and severity of the current coronavirus
COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on our business operations, sales
cycles, personnel, and the geographic markets in which we operate;
delays in the development of products and statements of assumption
underlying any of the foregoing as well as other factors set forth
under the caption see "Risk Factors'' in our Annual Report on Form
10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 and other filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not
to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which
speak only as of the date made. Except as required by law, the
Company undertakes no obligation to disclose any revision to these
forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information,
future events, or otherwise. Additionally, there may be other
factors of which the Company is not currently aware that may affect
matters discussed in forward-looking statements and may also cause
actual results to differ materially from those discussed. In
particular, the consequences of the coronavirus outbreak to
economic conditions and the industry in general and the financial
position and operating results of our Company, in particular, have
been material, are changing rapidly, and cannot be predicted.
Engage with BIO-keyFacebook – Corporate:
https://www.facebook.com/BIOkeyInternational/LinkedIn – Corporate:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bio-key-internationalTwitter –
Corporate: @BIOkeyIntl Twitter – Investors: @BIO_keyIR StockTwits:
BIO_keyIR
BIO-key Media Contact Tim Hurley, Erin
KnappMatter Communications BIO-key@matternow.com617-201-9152
Investor ContactsWilliam Jones, David Collins
Catalyst IR BKYI@catalyst-ir.com212-924-9800
BIO key (NASDAQ:BKYI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
BIO key (NASDAQ:BKYI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024