Strategic Acquisition of BSS-ONE Dueenne Group by Right of Reply Ltd
LONDON, March 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --
Right of Reply Ltd ("Right of Reply" or "ROR") a company providing technical solutions to the problems of Cyber Defamation and Fake News is pleased to announce the acquisition of a majority stake (51%) of Romanian software company BSS-ONE Dueenne Group ("Dueenne") (http://www.bss-one.ro)
Dueenne is located in Iași at the heart of the Romanian Silicon Valley. The region is home to some of the largest tech companies in the world and centered around the Gheorghe Asachi Technical University. BSS-ONE Dueenne Group has a subsidiary office in Chisinau, Moldova.
Dueenne is a leading outsource software development firm working for international companies and has been working with Right of Reply to develop the Right of Reply software platform since the early development of the Right of Reply project.
Dueenne employs 80 full-time software developers, technicians and staff that are competent in all of the most current and latest programming languages.
In 2017 Dueenne achieved a turnover of 2,082,000 Euros and an EBITDA of 665,000 Euros. The terms of the acquisition by ROR will allow an increase in capital in Dueenne of 400,000 Euros in the coming months. This will allow the company to take on new projects which will drive higher performance in 2018.
The cost of the 51% acquisition of the Dueenne shares was £700,000 (roughly 1.25 times the EBITDA). The acquisition was made with 94,000 Right of Reply shares valued at the expected IPO listing price of £7.50 per share. Right of Reply plans to list on the London Stock Exchange Standard listing within the next few months.
Dueenne has already applied to the Registry of Commerce (local competent business registry authority) to change the name of the company to ROR Software Lab SRO.
From a strategic point of view, the acquisition allows Dueenne to expand their business and allows ROR to demonstrate prior to the public offering, that the entire technology portfolio, software development expertise and knowhow is under their complete control. The patents related to the ROR technology have already been filed directly by Right of Reply.
Further, the acquisition illustrates that:
- Right of Reply will be able to remain on the cutting edge of technologies to solve the challenges of cyber defamation and fake news. The platform will continue to improve, building on its block-chain and open-ledger architecture that allows unambiguous verification of sources and responses.
- Right of Reply is fundamentally different than other small cap listed companies looking to finance an early idea. Right of Reply has a solid business model addressing an urgent and growing unmet need for confidence in information sources and the power to reply. With this acquisition, Right of Reply shows that it not only has a great future potential with its patented products and tools, but also that Right of Reply can already generate a positive EBITDA prior to the IPO.
Thomas Brooks, CEO of Right of Reply:
"We began working with Dueenne as their client but it was immediately clear from the quality of the programming their willingness to contribute ideas and the level of professional communications that there was room to develop our relationship further. Our partnership has led naturally to this acquisition and we look forward to the continued development of the platform as well as exploring new opportunities for block-chain verified transaction applications. Under the new name of Right of Reply Software Lab the team will continue to work for third parties on outsourced software development and will also be able to distinguish itself from competitors with its focus on verifiability. The combined team can claim a leading role in the emerging trend of treating emissions of information on the web whether they be articles, comments, likes or shares as essentially transactions of potential value and as such they should be verified with the same rigor we apply to monetary transactions. The strategic timing of this deal just prior to our IPO is undeniable."
Marco Morini, Dueenne Group Partner:
"Thanks to the acquisition by Right of Reply, Dueenne will have the chance to further invest in R&D and consolidating its long-term strategy which provides further developments in professional web services, app mobile and IoT market. Furthermore this agreement will help strengthen our internationalization process and it is a clear acknowledgment of the value of Dueenne in terms of highly skilled resources, powerful methods and innovative development platforms."
For more information, please contact info@rightofreply.news
Right of Reply aims to address and create a "level playing field" when it comes to representing the truth behind defamatory or fake news in social media and search engine listings.
Share this article