Global Invacom Abandons Proposed $200 Million Acquisition of Tactilis

Global Invacom has backed away from a proposed $200 million acquisition of the smartcard specialist Tactilis. The news comes via a filing with the Singapore Exchange, which also revealed that the two companies would equally split costs and expenses and that the $20 million break fee would be waived.

The two companies first agreed to the reverse takeover back in October, although the The Straits Times reports that several members of Global Invacom’s board were opposed to the merger at the time. Global Invacom cited “difficulties in fulfilling all of the conditions in the [sale and purchase agreement]” as the reason for the decision to abandon the deal.

Tactilis is best known for its flexible biometric smartcards, which feature fingerprint recognition tech from NEXT Biometrics. The company recently ordered another 30,000 sensors from NEXT to work on new smartcard pilot projects in 2019.

Global Invacom, meanwhile, has been on the Singapore Exchange watch list since June, largely thanks to a low share price (below 20 cents) in the months leading up to it. The company had hoped that the Tactilis acquisition would boost its prospects, but the collapse of the deal means that Global Invacom will have to find another way to pull itself off of the watch list.

Sources: The Straits Times, StockMarketWire

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April 24, 2019 – by Eric Weiss