| GTG acquires Frozen Puppies |
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Genetic Technologies Limited (ASX: GTG; NASDAQ: GENE) is pleased to announce it has acquired Frozen Puppies Dot Com Pty. Ltd. (“FPDC”), Australia’s foremost provider of canine reproductive services. Based in Calga, New South Wales, FPDC uses a proprietary system of canine semen collection, freezing and artificial insemination to significantly improve conception rates and litter sizes. This system enables FPDC to consistently deliver conception rates of over 90%. FPDC also provides an online frozen semen bank of pre-assessed, quality canine semen as well as an import/export service for breeders from around the world. Chief Executive Officer of GTG, Mr. Michael Ohanessian, said “Frozen Puppies serves the same customer base that we do for our canine genetic testing business and for essentially the same purpose – greyhound and pedigree dog breeders who are trying to improve their breeding outcomes. We assist breeders by ensuring that puppies are of known parentage and clear of important hereditary diseases. Frozen Puppies enables them to breed more efficiently. Together we can offer assistance in delivering higher quality pedigrees in a cost effective manner.” Under the terms of the Agreement between GTG and Frozen Puppies, GTG has acquired 100% of the issued share capital of FPDC in return for the issue to the FPDC shareholders of 12,254,902 ordinary shares in GTG and the payment of $153,160 in cash. In other key terms of the acquisition, GTG has advanced $346,840 in loan funds to FPDC to enable shareholder loans to be repaid, and Employment Agreements have been executed between GTG and the five principals of FPDC. GTG plans to expand the FPDC service throughout Australia and into Asia in conjunction with its suite of DNA-related tests for the canine breeder market. It is expected that the acquisition will be accretive to earnings per share in year two. Details of the GTG shares which have now been issued are included on the attached ASX Appendix 3B. Voluntary Restriction Agreements have been executed with all former FPDC shareholders. As a result, 80% of the 12,254,902 GTG shares are subject to voluntary escrow and will be released from escrow in four equal tranches after the expiration of 6, 12, 18 and 24 months from the date of the issue, respectively. As described above, GTG has today issued ordinary shares without disclosure to the former FPDC shareholders under the fundraising provisions of Part 6D.2 of the Corporations Act and this notice is given pursuant to section 708A(5)(e) of the Corporations Act. As at the date of this notice, GTG has complied with its financial reporting and auditing obligations under Chapter 2M of the Corporations Act and its continuous disclosure obligations under section 674 of the Corporations Act. In particular, there is no information which GTG has withheld from Listing Rule 3.1 disclosure under the confidentiality carve-out from disclosure. Read more |
