News Archive 2005

27.04.2005
Atine strengthens its ownership in Valimo

Helsinki 27.4.2005 Valimo today announced that Atine Group has increased its ownership in Valimo Wireless by purchasing the shares belonging to Eqvitec Teknologiarahasto I, managed by Eqvitec Partners.

"Valimo has grown strongly over the past two years, increasing its revenues by 75% each year and adding an impressive group of mobile operator and enterprise customers. We believe that there is a substantial growth opportunity in the markets for strong user authentication and related solutions, and that Valimo's innovative approach has given it a market-leading position in the field. Atine plans to strongly back Valimo's growth in both the local and international markets," says Alexander Ehrnrooth, Atine's CEO.

"We welcome Atine's increased support of Valimo, and see many synergies across its portfolio of mobile and security technology companies. Our belief is that 2005 and 2006 will be watershed years for realizing the goal of the mobile phone as the businessperson and consumers "personal trusted device" of choice", according to Will Cardwell, CEO of Valimo. "We thank Eqvitec for its excellent support over the past 5 years."

Valimo recently announced new agreements with the mobile operators Wataniya in Kuwait, and Omnitel in Lithuania, and has existing trusted relationships with many Finnish companies such as Elisa, RAY, and several government ministries, with a number of prospects in its pipeline. Valimo is owned by its personnel, Atine Group, and the Canadian venture investor SpringBank TechVentures, both of whom invested more in conjunction with this transaction.

Valimo Wireless delivers strong authentication and payment solutions to its operator and corporate customers, in both mobile and fixed-line environments. The company's product portfolio features transaction management solutions which enable strong user authentication in multi-channel environments, assuring non-repudiation and high data security. Valimo's products and services allow customers to focus on their own business and service portfolios, leaving Valimo's solutions to manage network security and data integrity issues, and enable the best possible service availability for use with multiple end-user devices.

Atine Group is an industrial holding company, whose strategy is to make minority and majority investments primarily in Finnish based small- and midsized enterprises. Atine aims to increase the value of its holdings by being an active, hands-on owner and by active board participation. Atine has a strong focus on mobile and security technologies, counting in addition to Valimo, UniqMinds, Hantro Products, and Barium Nordic among its holdings.

Further information:

Valimo Wireless
www.valimo.com
William Cardwell, CEO
Tel: +358 9 4365 0080
will.cardwell@valimo.com

Atine Group
www.atine.fi
Alexander Ehrnrooth, CEO
Tel: +358 9 6122 340
alexander.ehrnrooth@atine.fi