Looks like US Screen and Tjet has just been sold.
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/915909/000095013808000558/ex_10-1.htm
Im sure alot are curious about warrenties, support, parts, etc?
Funny how the "leading" dtg printer in sales has just sold for a measly 3mil.
Things that make you go hmm.
First off, according to the document you provided in the link, Hirsch has only purchased 80% of the outstanding equity interests of US Screen. What that means is they have bought 80% of the shares that US Screen issued and sold to other people. That does not include the other 20% of issued stock, or US Screen’s treasury stock, which we do not know how much they kept off the market. It is most likely that Hirsch now has a controlling interest of US Screen, but maybe not, and it is not an outright sale of the company in whole.
Also, I can’t see where the 3 million for a sale price comes in. According to the document, Hirsch bought the shares at $12.50 per share. For a 3 million total purchase that is only 240,000 shares. That does not seem right at all. 80% of the issued shares of a company that size and age should be in the tens of millions of shares. Say 80% of the issued shares were 20 million shares, that would put the purchase price at 25 million. Seems more realistic to me.
Anther point. Hirsch only bought what other people already owned any how. US Screen did not own that equity. It is possible this will not be a big change in the way US Screen operates other than now they have working capital, provided buy funding arrangements we don’t know the details to, to fund a plan for reaching a sustainable profitability and growth.
I also do not understand all the complaints against US Screen for service, support and supplies. I have had no problem getting people on the phone, getting answers or getting supplies for my T-Jet 2 since I bought it early this year. When I first got my T-Jet, I called them a lot and I always got prompt help, and I have had no problem buying ink (which I buy from Equipment Zone). US Screen may have been out of ink temporarily, but who cares when you can get it from five other places. Now if there was zero inventory in distribution, and no production to replenish inventory for distribution, that would be a problem. It is not a problem if the manufacturer has run out of inventory after adequately supplying its distribution network. That happens all the time. All that matters is that a manufacturer makes more product before the distribution network runs out.
I would say don’t panic if you own US Screen products, and don’t think this means necessarily US Screen was in serious trouble because this happened. Maybe they were in a pickle, maybe they were not. But this is normal stuff for corporate business. Corporations are not mom and pop businesses and they don’t approach capitalization and financing like a mom and pop business. Even if a business might have started out a mom and pop business, usually, if they incorporate, issue stock and grow like US Screen did, they change and learn the corporate way of business. We will just have to wait and see how things work out. But I can tell you, it would not be normal or a wise move by Hirsch to kill US Screen and strand US Screen’s customer base with out the resources to continue to produce product on their current machines. That would have negative ramifications from a marketing stand point and possibly a legal stand point.
