MMX.L Regulatory News (MMX)

14 Nov 2007 07:01

Hecta Media Inc.14 November 2007 For immediate release: 0700hrs 14th November 2007 Hecta Media Inc ("Hecta Media" or "the Company") First day of dealing on AIM The directors of Hecta Media Inc (AIM: HCTA), a web consolidator, are pleased toannounce that all of the Company's 162,266,456 Ordinary Shares have today beenadmitted for trading on AIM valuing the Company at £6.5 million. Hecta Media is a British Virgin Islands (''BVI'') registered company whosepurpose is to make broadly distributed investments in niche content web sitesand vertically targeted, branded domains. Using a combination of Ordinary Sharesand cash to make targeted acquisitions, the Company intends to build a portfolioof high-traffic websites monetized through search and display advertising. HectaMedia will focus its efforts on active investment in websites and domainsestablished in the UK, continental Europe, and the United States. The websitesin which Hecta Media intends to invest will typically be simple, profitablebusinesses with few employees and positive cash flow. Hecta Media aims toconsolidate a number of such websites across a few specific verticals, with thepurpose of creating advantages of scale in each vertical market. The Directorsintend that Hecta Media will acquire sites by offering a combination of cash andOrdinary Shares to the owners of the sites, providing fungible assets to ownerslooking for a suitable exit strategy by which to realize the value of thebusinesses they have created. The Directors consider that current marketconditions provide good opportunities for investment in a wide variety ofsuitable websites which can meet Hecta Media's strategic objectives - theCompany having recently raised GBP4.67 million. Significant shareholders in the Company on admission are: Frederick Krueger 15.41% Libra Fund LP 12.33% HSBC Global Custody Nominee (UK) Limited 9.24% Angstrom Capital Limited 8.09% Guy Elliott 7.7% Bellone Investment Services Inc 7.7% Clark Landry 6.16% Rig III Fund Limited 6.16% Libra Offshore Limited 3.08% The Company's Nominated Adviser and Broker is Beaumont Cornish Limited. Commenting on the admission, Frederick Krueger, Executive Chairman, said: "AIM provides an ideal marketplace for us to execute transactions and developthe business. We are therefore delighted to have been admitted onto the dominantinternational market in the emerging company arena." ---ENDS--- Further Information: Hecta Media Inc Clark Landry (CEO) - T: + 1 310 570 3820 Beaumont Cornish Limited Roland Cornish - Tel +44 (0)207 628 3396 gth media relations Toby Hall / Jade Mamarbachi - T: +44 (0)207 153 8035 Or visit the group's website at www.hectamedia.com Notes to Editors Directors Frederick Robert Krueger (aged 46), Executive Chairman Mr. Krueger is a serial entrepreneur, who has started seven successful softwareand internet companies. Mr. Krueger began his career as a proprietary fixedincome trader at Salomon Brothers and Grenwich Capital from 1986 to 1992. Heleft finance in 1992 to start a graphic design software company, Fauve Software,which was acquired by Macromedia (Nasdaq: ADBE) in 1995. Following this, hestarted Random Noise, a Java tools provider, which was sold to Vignette (Nasdaq:VIGN) in 1997. In 1999, Mr. Krueger turned to the internet area, and startediwin.com, one of the 50th largest internet sites at the time. The company wasmerged with Uproar Inc. and sold to Vivendi Universal (NYSE V) in 2001. He alsostarted Traffic Marketplace, a top five ad network in 2000; the company was alsosold to Vivendi Universal. In 2002, he started Santa Monica Networks, a secondad network, which was sold to Kanoodle Inc in 2005. Since 2005, Mr. Krueger hasstarted TagWorld, a social network that has received a substantial investmentfrom Viacom Inc., and Euroclick, an internet ad network based in Munich, Germanythat serves over 6 billion ad impressions a month. He is on the boards of bothTagWorld and Adconion (Euroclick). Mr. Krueger received a BA in Mathematics fromCornell University and a PhD in Operations Research from Stanford University. Clark William Landry (aged 30), Chief Executive Officer Mr. Landry is an experienced entrepreneur having been involved in theestablishment of at least seven companies with a focus on the online advertisingand consumer internet sectors. Mr. Landry began his career in 1999 at BarringtonAssociates as an investment banking analyst and having gained some experiencethere left banking to be the director of marketing at iwin.com. At iwin.com hewas responsible for managing a $15 million annual online marketing budget forthis online games site. Mr. Landry was then an initial founder and investor intoTraffic Marketplace and co-wrote the business plan for this online advertisingnetwork, which at the date of this Document is still a leading US advertisingnetwork. Mr. Landry also managed marketing and publisher relations for TrafficMarketplace. Traffic Marketplace was acquired by Uproar in 2000, which wassubsequently sold to Vivendi Universal. Mr. Landry was co-founder and VicePresident, Marketing from May 2002 to April 2005 of Santa Monica Networks, anonline advertising network, which was sold to Kanoodle (now Seevast) in 2005. InMay 2005 Mr. Landry cofounded and then managed the marketing and media buyingefforts for TagWorld, a general social networking website prior to the sale of aminority stake in the company to Viacom. Mr. Landry was also a co-foundinginvestor of Adconion (formerly Euroclick), a leading international advertisingnetwork. Mr. Landry is currently a non-executive director of Libra Media whichdevelops and manages community websites, including its flagship property,CityMommy. CityMommy is a leading localized social networking site for motherswith a presence in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, and New York. Mr. Landryis also currently a non-executive director of LateNightShots, which wasestablished in 2006. LateNightShots is a social networking site focused on bars,clubs, and nightlife, and is the leading social networking site in the greaterWashington DC area. Mr. Landry graduated from Yale University in 1999 with a BAin Economics. David de Jongh Weill (aged 49), President and Executive Director Mr. Weill started his professional career with Salomon Brothers in 1983 inderivative products sales and trading. He subsequently became active inproprietary trading for Salomon Brothers in International Fixed Income andForeign Exchange. Mr. Weill left Salomon in 1989 to develop an internationalproprietary trading activity with Greenwich Capital Markets. Thereafter, in1992, Mr. Weill developed his own fund management activity with funds undermanagement growing to over $1.2 billion. From 1998, he has focused on privateequity investment, predominantly in media and technology companies. Mr. Weillhas acquired considerable experience in proprietary trading in internationalfinancial markets, investment management, corporate finance, and corporategovernance. Mr. Weill holds a Bachelor of Business Administration, magna cumlaude in International Business from the University of Georgia, a Masters ofBusiness Administration from the London Business School, a Masters of Science inLaw and Accounting from the London School of Economics and is currently readingfor a Masters of Science in Decision Sciences at the London School of Economics.Mr. Weill was called to the Bar of England and Wales by the Honourable Societyof Lincoln's Inn. Guy Elliott (aged 48), Deputy Chairman Mr. Elliott is a co-founder of F3 Capital Management, LLC, an independentalternative asset management firm specialising in early stage financings in thenatural resources field. Prior thereto, Mr. Elliott was president and co-founderof Croesus Capital Management, a specialist emerging markets hedge fund managerwhich grew over several years to about $800 million under management. He was amanager of proprietary trading at HSBC New York from 1992 to 1993 and worked forEBF & Associates as a portfolio manager from 1990 to 1992. He has also workedfor Merrill Lynch International in New York focusing on fixed income securitiesand Cargill in London, Geneva and Minneapolis trading fixed income, foreignexchange and derivatives. Mr. Elliott is a director of Templar Minerals Limited,a natural resources investment company which is listed on AIM. Mr. Elliott has aBSc in Economics from the London School of Economics. Michael Eric Mendelson (aged 41), Finance Director Mr. Mendelson is a Senior Vice President with the investment bank of Ferris,Baker Watts, Inc. Prior to joining Ferris, Baker Watts, Mr. Mendelson served asfounder and CEO of Align360, a general management and information technologyconsultancy which serves property and casualty insurers, banks and credit cardissuers in North and South America, Europe and the Caribbean. Over the course ofnearly 15 years, Mr. Mendelson provided the strategic direction to lead his firmto both rapid growth and industry leading levels of profitability. He sold hisbusiness to a publicly traded consultancy in 1997, but repurchased it in early2001. The business was sold a second time to a large privately held consultancyin mid-2003. Mr. Mendelson was a recipient of the prestigious Ernst & YoungEntrepreneur of the Year in 2002. He holds a Bachelor of Science in BusinessAdministration degree from the University of Richmond and an MBA from theWharton School. Mr. Mendelson has served on the executive committees of theUniversity of Richmond's Board of Associates. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange