Akers' InTechnology in 165m reverse takeover

InTechnology's share price has been suspended since 8 May, when the stock rose steeply on speculation that the company was poised to make a major acquisition.

Chris Akers, executive director, who also heads online sports content and gaming group, Sports Internet, established the fund in February as a vehicle to invest in b2b ventures. On completion, Akers, who will have an interest of about 2%, will resign from the board and hand the reigns over to Peter Wilkinson, founder and MD of Storm and Vdata, who will become CEO of InTechnology, and have a 57.5% interest.

The acquisition will be settled by the issue of 103.55m shares, and 9.7m in cash which will be raised by way of a 1 for 2 rights issue at 150p a share. The deal values Vdata at 126m and Storm at 39m, and, at the rights issue price, the enlarged group at 207m.

The company also plans to raise 24.7m through a share placing among institutional investors, which will be used to finance its European expansion, and to develop further data storage sites.

A spokesperson for InTechnology said that the 2.7m raised when the fund was floated on AIM in March has been used to pay for due diligence, and to seek out this deal. “The company was set up with the intention of investing in b2b businesses - which is what this is. So in that respect, it has fulfilled its object.”

It was denied, however, that Akers intentionally set up the fund as a vehicle to provide access to a public listing for another company, even though he will step aside after its first transaction. Though the spokesperson admitted, “he's in a good position to actually seek out some of these technology companies, and he will make something out of this.”

Vdata provides automated and remote back-up and restore services, and advanced infrastructures for the delivery of online applications; while Storm provides data storage solutions, and distribution, design, specification, building and installation services.

InTechnology cited research from IBM, stating that the global market for managed computing networks and application services is forecast to grow to approximately 38bn by the end of 2004.

“Now's an opportune moment for the company to have the funds that they require. They could have looked at the VC route, or a strategic alliance, but that could have taken months.”