DUBLIN, Ireland, Jan. 23, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- FreeStar Technology Corp. (OTCBB:FSRT) an international card payments processor and technology company, today announced that it had rejected a proposed offer to acquire all of the assets of Rahaxi, Inc., the Company's wholly-owned subsidiary, as well as certain other Company assets. Planet Payment, Inc (LSE:PPTR) (LSE:PPT) submitted the preliminary offer letter through its representative, Canaccord Adams Limited. The proposal, which was non-binding and subject to various due diligence and other contingencies, including negotiation of a definitive agreement, offered a maximum of US$45 million for the assets, with all funds payable in restricted stock of Planet Payment. The proposal was structured with an initial restricted stock payment of $12.5 million and up to an additional $32.5 million in potential aggregate earn-out payments, which were contingent upon substantial future revenue growth by the Rahaxi business and other assets.
The Company rejected the proposal for a number of reasons, including the overall consideration and proposed structure of the transaction. The Company may instead focus on pursuing a strategic business relationship or contract with Planet Payment not involving any sale of Company assets or stock. Certain other parties have expressed preliminary interest in a potential Partial acquisition or investment in Rahaxi; however, no formal proposals are pending and the Company may elect to terminate all such discussions at the discretion of the Company.
Paul Egan CEO stated: "We are seeing the interest in Rahaxi's Robust platform stemming from the current industry consolidation and regulatory guide lines that have come into effect including EMV and PCI compliance. Rahaxi Processing Oy will leverage its processing capacity to align itself with partners wishing to comply with the new guide lines of Visa and MasterCard and other Card issuers. We are seeing a growing interest in both international and Finnish domestic card processing business and are encouraged by discussions currently taking place with interested parties on the possible investment and strategic business relationships."
Forward looking statements
Certain statements in this news release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of Rule 175 under the Securities Act of 1933 and Rule 3b-6 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and are subject to the safe harbor created by those rules. When used in this press release, the words "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "plans," "will" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding potential future plans and objectives of the companies, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. FreeStar cautions that these forward-looking statements are further qualified by other factors including, but not limited to, those set forth in FreeStar's Form 10-KSB filing and other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (available at www.sec.gov). FreeStar undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any statements in this release, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.