Hantro is a pioneer in video technology for mobile handsets and the company was the industry’s first to implement an MPEG4 video application in a commercially available smartphone. Hantro has also launched new video codecs enabling high-resolution video encoding and decoding in multiple standards-based video and still image formats (MPEG4, H.263, H.264, JPEG). Hantro employed nearly 80 persons in 2006 and the company has offices in Oulu and Espoo in Finland as well as in the US, Japan and Korea.
CapMan funds Finnventure V and Finnventure V ET invested in Hantro together with Startupfactory in 2002. The funds also made a substantial add-on investment in Hantro in 2005 together with a larger investor group. The funds’ ownership in Hantro was approx. 30% prior to the sale. In the transaction, the funds will principally receive shares in the buyer’s company listed on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX). The transaction is subject to approval by On2 Technologies Inc’s Annual General Meeting, and it is expected to be closed by the end of August. The funds will exit from the company in total when they sell the shares received in On2. Because the transaction will be executed as an exchange of shares, the exit does not have a direct impact on CapMan Plc’s result for 2007.
”We are satisfied that Hantro will transfer to the ownership of On2, as the two companies form an entity with complementary leading technologies and clientele. The interest shown towards Hantro by technology leader On2 is proof of the good work done by the company’s management team and employees,” says CapMan’s Senior Partner Vesa Walldén.
CapMan Technology invests in Nordic expansion and later stage technology companies. CapMan’s Technology team, having a long track record in accordance with this investment focus, is one of the most experienced in the Nordic countries. The portfolio companies of CapMan Technology typically deliver industrial (OEM) and B-to-B infrastructure, applications or services.
For further information, please contact:
Vesa Walldén, Senior Partner, CapMan Technology, tel. +358 6155 8361 or +358 400 616 997