MIAMI (June 2, 2014) – Abakan Inc. announced that it has increased its ownership position in its majority owned subsidiary, MesoCoat Inc., to a 87.5 percent direct and 89.9 percent direct and indirect ownership. The increase is the result of converting an additional $6.2 million in MesoCoat investment into equity and exchanging 21 percent of ownership in Powdermet for 65.3 percent of Powdermet’s shares of MesoCoat.
By issuing 2 million restricted shares of Abakan to Powdermet, Abakan intends to acquire those remaining shares of MesoCoat held by Powdermet in exchange for those remaining shares of Powdermet that it holds and the issuance of additional shares of Abakan, to the extent necessary, on receipt of independent business valuations of MesoCoat and Powdermet on or before Aug. 31.
The price per share of the latest conversion of Abakan's investment in MesoCoat is at a 58 percent premium to the last price that Abakan converted invested capital to equity.
Abakan's commitment to providing lowest total cost of ownership, long life wear and corrosion solutions, led by its CermaClad and PComP product platforms, is clearly demonstrated by its decision to focus on near term commercial applications ahead of diverse contract research and development activities.
Robert Miller, Abakan's CEO, announced that Abakan director, Stephen Goss, will replace Andrew Sherman as CEO of MesoCoat effective immediately. Goss brings operational discipline and commercial focus, in a shift away from the technology development focus to commercial expansion. The transition will continue to be supported by Sherman.
"Getting our important products to market is the focus of our immediate efforts at MesoCoat,” Goss said. “Our products are necessary to meet the ever expanding demand for downtime reducing cladding and coating materials in connection with corrosion and wear protection for oil and gas activities, mining concerns, metal processing, and eventually infrastructure applications.”
This decision to divest the company’s ownership of Powdermet, as disclosed Feb. 10, was mutually agreed upon by the boards of Abakan, MesoCoat and Powdermet, and is an acceleration of the staged acquisition planned on Abakan's initial investment in 2009.
"I am very excited about MesoCoat's transition to becoming a major commercial provider, which is the realization of my long term vision ‘to bring the benefits of advanced materials to the world,’” Sherman said. “I fully support Mr. Goss and believe he is exactly what the organization needs at this time. We have an exceptional team, and a look forward to the continued advancement and expansion of MesoCoat's revolutionary nanocomposites and large area cladding product portfolios for years to come."
Abakan develops, manufactures and markets advanced nanocomposite materials, fabricated metal products and metal composites for applications in the oil and gas, petrochemical, mining, aerospace and defense, energy, infrastructure, and processing industries.