SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., July 12, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Mellon Research (Pink Sheets:MLON) is an established "boutique investment banking" firm that helps private companies raise capital via a public offering on the OTC ("Over the Counter") market, or through bridge loans that are secured by fixed assets. There is no dominant investment banking firm that provides comprehensive services in the $3B OTC market at present. The Company believes there is a significant opportunity to provide turnkey investment banking services to the 4.6M small to midsize private companies ($10-250M USD in sales) that do not have the financial expertise, industry contacts and/or the ability to utilize the OTC market to go public. Unlike some of our competitors in the financial services market, the Company offers a suite of turnkey services we have branded as our Financial Prep(TM) services which include:
-- Providing a public shell company as a principal.
-- Raising Capital.
-- Making a market in the stock.
-- Providing continued support in the secondary market after the
stock is trading via IR and related activities.
-- Assisting client CEOs and/or BOD with all aspects of legal and
financial issues relating to the IPO process.
-- Strategic and tactical marketing services that enable the client
company to better leverage their liquidity to increase revenue
and market share.
The Company believes investment capital is only part of the picture -- we help our client companies before and after the funding processes to ensure that they are building a sustainable business that is financially healthy, working with peak operational capacity and that is positioned strategically in the marketplace to develop a unique and lasting brand. The Company is well-established and projects profitability in its first year in business and is projecting revenue of $20-30M.
The Company and People
Mellon Research principals have structured over $750M in public offerings, debt, equity, M&A transactions and strategic affiliations in the previous ten years prior to joining Mellon Research. The company has significant contacts and in-place relationships with such top tier banking institutions as: HSBC (Hong Kong Securities Banking Corporation), Royal Bank of Canada, Bank One Corporation, Dresser Bank, Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch.
The company has an in-place network of advisors of over 200 people located in every major metropolitan area of the world including: Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul, London, Munich, Paris, Zurich, Rome, Tel Aviv, New York, Chicago, Phoenix, San Francisco, Mexico City and Buenos Aires. Our teams of consultants are proficient at working with a client's chief executive officer, senior management and/or the board of directors. We've worked with clients "on the ground" in virtually every corner of the globe including Beijing, Hong Kong, London, Zurich, Paris, Mexico City, Buenos Aires and Tokyo. We think and act globally and we can work with any company in any country around the world.
Recent Referenceable Deals include:
-- Arranged Standby Letter of Credit (SBLC) for $10M USD for
multinational trading firm located in Hong Kong.
-- Arranged funding for major Greek Real Estate Development Firm by
utilizing $300M in collateralized assets to secure $120M in
Funding -- worked with Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse to arrange
financing.
Markets and Opportunity
The Company believes the IPO market is heating back up again and that there is an opportunity for us to generate significant fees working with small to midsize cap companies that are located throughout the globe. There are over 4.6M small to midsize cap companies that do not have the sophistication and/or knowledge to effectively leverage the OTC market to go public and/or have the financial acumen and investment banking contacts to raise significant (over $5M) amounts of bridge capital that may or may not be secured by collateral.
According to the National Seed and Venture Funds the IPO market started off in an aggressive manner, with approximately 85 companies going public via Nasdaq and the OTC, raising in excess of $10.5B in capital. According to many Wall Street Underwriters the new issues market has finally recovered from the prolonged slump that has gripped the IPO markets for much of 2002 and 2003. According to the latest Deloitte Touche forecasts and market analysis, over 830 companies are projected to go public in calendar 2004, raising an estimated $65B in capital.
The Company believes there is a significant opportunity working with firms located in diverse geographic regions around the world -- the Chinese market presents a good bellwether. China's GDP in 2003 was estimated to be $1.3 trillion in USD and it is growing at a rate of 8% per annum for the last three years. And, the Olympics (hosted by China in 2008) have historically been a tremendous economic boost to the host country. A key theme among last year's IPOs was the "China play" on the Singapore Stock Exchange ("SGX"). Loosely defined as a stock that has significant exposure to China, whether through major shareholders or business operations, China plays represented about a quarter or 13 of the 55 IPO listings during calendar 2003, floating one billion IPO shares and raising $337.6 Million USD in gross proceeds.
Wall Street and a diversified group of merchant bankers are continuing to woo Chinese companies; industry prognosticators expect the country to continue being a main source of new listings for the global exchange market. And even as China becomes an important part of the IPO markets, we believe India and Taiwan will also have a significant number of companies that we can work with as we move forward through calendar 2004.
We have a local office established and staffed in mainland China and the Company is projecting a deal flow from this region of 8-10 companies this year, with $20-45M in fees. The Company intends to aggressively market into China using a web site that is developed in Chinese (Mandarin) and that has been optimized for search engines and to provide online seminars in Chinese and English on going public via the OTC to leverage our costs and minimize travel times.
Client Focus
The Company believes it is critical to select private mid cap firms that have are the "best in breed" in their market segments, enabling us to reference quality deals in our ongoing marketing activities, which will in turn generate higher quality deal flow as we move forward. We intend to be selective and our criteria encompasses the following parameters:
-- Revenue stream of $10M or more, with a minimum of 12 months
of "revenue history."
-- Minimal corporate debt.
-- $1M plus in shareholder's equity.
-- Minimum of two year's of audited financials (statements).
-- Strong proprietary technology (preferred).
-- Positive cash flow projected within 3-9 months.
-- Five or more employees.
Services Overview
The Company intends to generate UW ("underwriter") fees of 20% per deal to ensure that we are highly profitable, have the ability to aggressively market our company to take market share and drive competitive advantage and to invest our own capital in deals that we think will have a significant upside. The Company believes it is critical to provide turnkey services that differentiate us from our competitors and enable us to command a premium fee structure.
The Company's Financial Prep(TM) Services can be broken out into three primary areas:
Financial
-- Public Offerings via OTC -- Bridge Funding -- Reverse Mergers -- Financial Due Diligence -- Business Plan Development -- Financial Strategic Planning -- Regulatory Compliance -- Financial Negotiations -- Analysis/Bench Marketing Tender Offers
Marketing
-- Strategic Planning -- Strategic and Tactical Marketing -- Business Development -- Market Making Activities -- Shareholder Communications
Operational
-- Legal Services -- Accounting -- Executive Management Recruiting
Marketing Strategy
Effective brand management is a critical success factor, and Mellon Research is positioned as "the only turnkey boutique investment banking" that provides comprehensive services to mid-cap private companies that need to raise capital and/or go public via the OTC. The core brand is built around the Mellon Research name; secondary brands include "Financial Prep" and others will be developed as we roll out additional products/services offerings.
We will communicate with our targeted market by utilizing a two-tiered marketing program. The first stage, to be deployed in Q-3 and Q-4 calendar 2004 utilizing a comprehensive online marketing campaign which will include: Pay per Click (PPC) and Organic Search Engine Ranking, Targeted PR for B2B publications, Opt-in E-Mail, Targeted Cost Per Click Advertising via top tier Business Portals including, Inc.com, Business Week.com, Yahoo and others, Google Ad Words Select (PPC) campaign, Newsletter Sponsorships via targeted publications read by CEO/Executives. In Q-3, 2004 we will launch a print campaign that will focus on Airline Publications, with emphasis on those that are flying international routes, Portal PPC campaigns with portals in Asia, Europe and South America, and Direct Mail to targeted Mid-Cap companies.
The company intends to schedule and utilize regular online Web Ex seminars online that will be an hour in duration and that will include a 45-minute formal presentation, followed by a Q&A Session for attending CEOs. Additionally, these web-based seminars will be archived via our web site so that CEO and or BOD members can review them on a 24/7 basis to better understand our services, timelines and process.
Competitive Analysis and Differentiators
There are already 20-30 other companies based in the US that are offering bridge capital, reverse merger and/or going public via the OTC markets to mid-cap companies. But, most of them are entrepreneurial companies, with minimal financial resources for marketing and business development, only a handful of associates who are not providing comprehensive services and are not aggressively marketing their companies. We feel there is a significant opportunity to become the dominant leader in this market segment by creating a unique brand and taking significant market share.
We believe our primary differentiators are:
1. Having a CEO who has ten plus years of experience in this market that has significant global contacts with virtually every major financial institution in the world.
2. A willingness to aggressively advertise our company utilizing interactive and traditional media in order to create the impression within our target market that we are the dominant market leader.
3. A network of over 200 associates in place around the world who are actively promoting our services.
4. Our turnkey Financial Prep Services which enable us to structure deals that are based on our working closely with a client CEO/BOD before and after financial transaction; ensuring our fee structure is significant and ongoing for 1-2 quarters after a financial transaction.
Executive Team
Mario Pino, CEO/Founder -- Mario Pino is the visionary leader of Mellon Research. He has ten years of experience structuring and negotiating multi-million dollar contractual relationships with companies in diverse industries, including real-estate, manufacturing, financial services, high tech and retail. Mr. Pino has lived, worked and built revenue-producing relationships with customers in Europe, Asia and South America. He has successfully arranged and issued collateral for project funding via finance structures tailored to meet client's objective in amounts ranging from $5M to $120M USD with companies in diverse countries, including Thailand, China and the UK.
Mr. Pino has utilized traditional and web-based marketing to generate a lead flow from potential client companies, then worked closely with the CEOs and Board Members to structure short-term financing, secured by the client's fixed assets -- enabling the client to gain temporary relief from restricted cash flow and to have sufficient resources to complete projects on time and under budget and/or execute their tactical business processes. He has extensive experience working with CEO and BOD members developing business plans, restructuring their companies, and/or reworking their operational plans to help the client go public via Nasdaq and/or the OTC markets. He has established relationships with such top tier banking institutions as: HSBC (Hong Kong Securities Banking Corporation), Royal Bank of Canada, Bank One Corporation, Dresser Bank, Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch.
During his tenure with Alexander Estate and Trust in the 1999-2003 timeframe he worked closely with some of the largest and most successful banking institutions and private trust companies in the world to create financial packages for SMB companies to ensure credit facilities that were established for a client would meet time requirements specified by the client and by Wall Street Securities firms. During this period he also established and managed a network of 200 associates located in key markets all over the world, developing successful joint ventures that generated a strong deal flow and revenue stream for the company.
Holly Katsaros, Business Development Manager -- With over nine years of experience in high tech sales, marketing, business development and investment banking, Holly Katsaros has brought her keen understanding of the customer and their requirements to several industry leaders, including EDS, Insight Development Corporation and Touchscape, LLC prior to joining Mellon Research. Ms. Katsaros has in-depth experience designing and implementing customer-centric sales and marketing programs, negotiating contracts and developing market launch programs for global customers, encompassing raw startups to G2K corporations.
Ms. Katsaros has been instrumental in helping Mellon Research, Inc. open and staff international offices in London and Bangkok and then develop productive revenue-producing relationships with clients in these markets. She has significant multi-cultural business experience and has traveled extensively in the past 6-8 years to work with customers in Western Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. She graduated in 1995 from Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant MI, with a Bachelor's Degree, Economics, College of Business Honors Fraternity, Sigma Iota Epsilon.
Board of Advisors
Noelin Lewis Joseph Didon -- July 16, 1965 to March 14, 1985 worked in Treasury of Seychelles as accounts clerk, senior examiner of accounts, chief cashier, licensing officer, treasury accountant and acting deputy accountant general. March, 1985 to June 30, 1989 head of financial task force section and 4th in command after the principal secretary ministry of finance, in Central Bank Building, Victoria, Mahe, Seychelles. Insurance agent from 1972 to date. 1984 to 1986 studied law and is a member of the Institute of Legal executives in UK. June, 1989 retired from Government of Seychelles services at Ministry of Finance. July 1989 to date in private practice as a financial consultant, realty and insurance businesses, broker of commercial and financial transactions including project fundings, brokerage for buy and sell MTNs, bank guarantees, oil, gold, diamond and other commodities. 1999 admitted to the Certified International Financier in USA.
Rodney Tang -- senior government official was head of the Immigration and Naturalization Service for Hong Kong for twenty-five years from 1964 until he retired from active Government service in 1989; subsequently founded Dove Holdings Corporation, Ltd. and First United International, Ltd. and is acting as CEO. Both are multinational corporations specializing in financial services.
Lee Traupel -- the CEO/Co-founder of Intelective Communications, Inc., a self-funded, profitable full-service advertising agency -- he has twenty plus years of experience contributing to the success of early stage companies and has market-honed experience branding products and services and positioning companies in today's warp speed digital economy.
He has made significant contributions as a member of the executive management team and taken two companies to a successful IPO and or acquisition. He lives, sleeps, eats and breathes marketing and has been helping companies develop a web-based go-to market strategy since the fall of 1996 -- making him a grizzled veteran in the interactive marketing space.
Mr. Traupel has been a featured speaker and panelist at numerous trade shows in the United States, Europe and Asia. These include: Interop, CES, Comdex (US and Japan), The Hannover Fair, The CAT Show (Stuttgart), AEC Systems, Siggraph, Internet World, PC Expo and numerous regional tradeshows. Additionally, Mr. Traupel has been interviewed by and featured in many publications including: CRN, eWeek, PC Magazine, USA Today, Windows 2000, Business Week, Home Business Magazine, The Cadalyst and Cadence Magazines. He has developed revenue-producing relationships with numerous global G2K clients including: AOL/Time Warner, CNet, OMI, Pfizer, Lycos, Sony, JWT, Boeing, Wells Fargo, Olivetti, BMW, Internet.com/INT Media Group, BT, Yahoo, NTT and many others.
His published articles on interactive marketing are syndicated via numerous newsletters and web sites including Internet.com, Adventive, SitePoint, WorkZ, Yahoo, EuroPublic, BuyerZone, ClickZ, SEO Today and Bpubs. He has been a contributing Mentor to the Silicon Valley Association of Software Entrepreneurs and a former BOD member of two successful software services companies. Mr. Traupel graduated from George Mason University in 1980.
Financial and Staffing Forecast Fiscal Year 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Est. Employees 20 35 70 130 250 Revenue $28M $56M $80M $120M $250M Profit (loss) $5.6M $15M $28M $45M $83M
About Mellon Research, Inc.
Founded in the fall of 2003 by Mario Pino -- Mellon Research provides comprehensive boutique investment banking consulting services to enable private companies to raise capital via: IPOs, Reverse Mergers, Bridge Capital and or other financial vehicles. Mellon Research is the only multi-national boutique financial services firm that is offering client companies with a structured funding process built around its Financial Prep(TM) services. These services provide client firms with a methodology that helps them analyze existing corporate structure, financial and marketing needs to help them make the right strategic choices necessary to raise capital or go public. For more information please contact Mario Pino, CEO, 602.912.5870, 2415 E. Camelback Road, Suite 700, Phoenix, AZ 85016, mellonresearch@aol.com, www.mellonresearch.com
This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. The statements reflect the company's current views with respect to future events that involve risks and uncertainties including uncertainties related to successful negotiations with other parties, closing of transactions, capital availability, operational and other risks, uncertainties and factors described from time to time in the company's publicly available SEC reports. In light of these risks and uncertainties, the forward-looking events described in this release might not occur.