Singapore Corporate News - 17 Oct 2007

Oculus to acquire Aretae for $600m

OPTICAL products group Oculus is acquiring carbon credit developer Aretae Pte Ltd for $600 million in a reverse takeover deal.

Under a heads of agreement, Oculus will issue 1.2 billion shares at 50 cents each to satisfy the purchase consideration, which will effectively result in a reverse takeover of Oculus. The proposed acquisition, which is subject to the signing of definitive agreements, requires 'that after the completion, the consideration shares shall constitute no less than 67.5 per cent of the issued capital of the company'.

Aretae is an environmental resources development and renewable-energy company that focuses on recycling and transforming biomass waste into value-added products and energy - and generating carbon credits in the process.

Oculus said that as part of the deal, the key vendors of Aretae are guaranteeing that Aretae's aggregate earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) for the financial years ending December 2008 and December 2009 will not be less than $50 million. Aretae is expected to record Ebitda of $20 million and $30 million for FY2008 and FY2009 respectively.