Electro Energy Inc. Files 8-K Pertaining to Merger
Company Names New Directors and Officers
DANBURY, Conn., June 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Electro Energy Inc. (OTC:EEEI.OB) (BULLETIN BOARD: EEEI.OB) today announced it has filed a Form
8-K regarding the closing of the private placement of approximately $3.0
million and the simultaneous stock-for-stock merger with a wholly owned
subsidiary of MCG Diversified Inc. (OTC:MCGV.OB) (BULLETIN BOARD: MCGV.OB) ,
completed and announced last week. The combined company will operate under the
name Electro Energy Inc. and will execute Electro Energy's business plan as its
sole business.
Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, at the closing of the merger, Electro Energy
appointed to its Board of Directors Martin G. Klein, Michael D. Eskra, Joseph
Engelberger, Warren D. Bagatelle and Farhad Assari. In addition, at the
closing of the merger, the Board of Directors appointed Mr. Klein as Chief
Executive Officer, Mr. Eskra as President and Chief Operating Officer, and
Audra J. Mace as Secretary and Chief Financial Officer.
Mr. Klein stated, "Electro Energy's management team brings together an
extraordinary combination of talent and experience in the fields of advanced
battery manufacture and commercialization. We are well prepared to take our
patented bipolar nickel-metal hydride and nickel cadmium batteries to wider
markets. The U.S. government and military have been our strongest customers
till now, and will doubtless remain a priority in these turbulent times. But
moving forward, we intend to rapidly penetrate more industrial and utility
markets and eventually the automotive industry. Our battery design maximizes
power, minimizes space and weight, has a longer life span and is less expensive
than our competitors. We believe we have just the technology the battery
markets are looking for." The appointed Directors and Officers are: Martin G. Klein, the founder, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Electro Energy. Mr. Klein has over 40 years of experience in the advanced battery field. Prior
to founding Electro Energy, he was one of the founding principals of Energy
Research Corp., now known as Fuel Cell Energy (NASDAQ:FCEL), where he served as
Executive Vice President through 1990 and as a director through 1992. He has
developed and worked on several battery chemistries and fuel cell systems. Prior to his association with Energy Research Corporation, he held positions in
the battery field at U.S. Army Signal Corps, Yardney Electric Corp.,
Electrochimica Corp., and Electro Optical Systems. Mr. Klein holds more than
15 patents in the field of advanced electrochemical systems, has contributed to
many of the fundamental reference books on the subject and has authored
numerous technical papers.
Michael D. Eskra, President and Chief Operating Officer and a member of the
Board of Directors. He has over 20 years of experience in the rechargeable
battery business. Prior to Electro Energy, Mr. Eskra worked at General Motors
and at Johnson Controls Inc. where, over a period of 13 years, he held
positions directly related to the development and commercialization of new
technologies and products. At General Motors, he served as assistant platform
manager for the Electric Vehicle Program and staff engineer of Advanced
Technology Vehicles, and was a member of the Technical and Business Management
Team of the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) and the
Partnership for New Generation Vehicle (PNGV), for the development of hybrid
vehicles. He presented the USABC and PNGV technology program strategy and
funding requirements to the U.S. Congress, former Vice President Al Gore, and
the National Science Foundation. He also assisted the automotive companies in
the strategy and preparation of testimony to the U.S. Justice Department for
the formation of the pre-competitive R&D partnerships to alleviate antitrust
concerns.
Joseph Engelberger, a member of the Board of Directors of Electro Energy since
1992. He has 50 years of experience as an entrepreneur/engineer and has
participated in the founding and start-up of a number of high technology
companies. He was a founding principal of Unimation, Inc. and the founding
principal of Helpmate Robotics, Inc.
Warren D. Bagatelle, Director. He is a Managing Director of Loeb Partners
Corporation, an investment banking firm and a director of Fuel Cell Energy,
Inc. (NASDAQ:FCEL), a world leader in the development of high temperature
hydrogen fuel cells for clean electric power generation since 1988. He is also
the Chairman of the Board of VirtualScopics, LLC, a privately held medical
imaging service company.
Farhad Assari, Director. He has been involved in the international investment
management business for the past 20 years, working in Europe, the Middle East
and Africa as well as the U.S. From 2001 to 2003, he built the Miami offices of
Neuberger Berman. He is currently the Deputy Head of Credit Suisse Private
Advisors in Miami.
Audra J. Mace, Secretary and Chief Financial Officer. She has served in senior
finance and information technology positions with privately held and publicly
traded companies for 12 years including Mormac Marine Enterprises, Inc, Acme
United Corp. and BIC Corporation. Recently, as Director of Finance and
Information Technology at Acme United Corp (AMEX:ACU), a manufacturer and
multi-national wholesale distributor of consumer products, she orchestrated an
integral part of the company's turn-around effort, managing debt
restructurings, financial reporting and compliance and reshaping internal
controls. As Director of IT, she led the transformation of Acme's MIS cost
center into a strategic IT business partner, overhauling the network
infrastructure, implementing a new ERP system, exploiting internet solutions
and re-engineering business processes and controls. Ms. Mace is a certified
management accountant and has served on the national board of directors of the
American Society of Women Accountants.
Electro Energy's Technology Electro Energy's bipolar nickel-metal hydride battery design, for which seven
U.S. patents and four foreign patents have been issued and for which three
additional patent applications are in process, represents a significant
departure from conventional battery configurations. Electro Energy's
technology employs nickel-metal hydride chemistry, but utilizes a cell design
and electrode fabrication technology that is significantly simpler and less
costly than conventional cylindrical and prismatic battery technologies. Electro Energy's battery construction, which in the finished product
significantly increases performance, consists of flat wafer cells that are
stacked one on top of another to make a multi-cell battery.
Each cell consists of one positive electrode, separator layers and one negative
electrode contained in face sheets that also serve as the cell contacts.
Multi-cell batteries are constructed by stacking identical cells so that the
positive contact of one cell contacts the negative contact of the adjacent
cell. The design of Electro Energy's products offers a number of significant
advantages, including providing an ability to discharge efficiently at
exceptionally high rates, compact packaging and lower manufacturing costs,
which are important in critical applications such as military communications,
military aircraft and space and medical applications, as well as
power-consuming applications such as hybrid electric cars, electric bicycles
and scooters, cordless power tools, load regulation and stationary energy
storage.
Electro Energy has developed active relationships with U.S. government agencies
such as the U.S. Army, the Naval Air Systems Command, the U.S. Air Force, the
Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of
Energy, and the Partnership for a New Generation Vehicle. These agencies are
not only potential purchasers of Electro Energy's batteries but are also
sources of significant research and development funding.
About Electro Energy Electro Energy, headquartered in Danbury, Connecticut, was founded in March
1992 to focus on the development and ultimate commercialization of a concept
for a bipolar nickel-metal hydride (BP Ni-MH) rechargeable battery. Since its
founding, Electro Energy has developed and owns both the patented design of BP
Ni-MH batteries and the patented production process for their manufacture.
Electro Energy has produced and delivered prototype BP Ni-MH batteries for the
U.S. Army (field radios and silent watch applications), NASA (satellites),
Partnership for a New Generation Vehicle (hybrid vehicles), NAVAIR and U.S. Air
Force (F-18 and F-16 Aircraft), National Institute of Health (NIH) (heart
assist pumps), and the Department of Energy (DOE) (distributed energy and power
quality), that have demonstrated performance advantages over existing
technologies.
Electro Energy's Colorado Springs facility, Electro Energy Mobile Products
Inc., acquired in 2003 from privately held Eagle Picher Technologies, supplies
Super NiCd's for U.S. Government satellite systems, legacy military aircraft
such as the B-52, B-1 and Cobra Helicopters and manufactures BP Ni-MH and
industrial Ni-Cd products.
Certain statements in this news release may contain forward-looking information
within the meaning of Rule 175 under the Securities Act of 1933 and Rule 3b-6
under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and are subject to the safe harbor
created by those rules. All statements, other than statements of fact, included
in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding potential
future plans and objectives of the companies, are forward- looking statements
that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such
statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could
differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Technical
complications that may arise could prevent the prompt implementation of any
strategically significant plan(s) outlined above. The companies caution that
these forward-looking statements are further qualified by other factors
including, but not limited to, those set forth in Electro Energy's Form 8-K and
MCG Diversified, Inc.'s Form 10-QSB for the period ended March 31, 2004, filed
with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (available at
http://www.sec.gov/). Electro Energy undertakes no obligation to publicly
update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events, or otherwise.
Pursuant to a June 1, 2004 agreement, Consulting For Strategic Growth I, Ltd. ("CFSG") provides Electro Energy with consulting, business advisory, investor
relations, public relations and corporate development services, for which CFSG
receives a fixed monthly fee for the duration of the agreement. Independent of
CFSG's receipt of cash compensation from Electro Energy, CFSG may choose to
purchase the common stock of Electro Energy and thereafter sell those shares at
any time it deems appropriate to do so.
CONTACTS: Martin G. Klein Stanley Wunderlich
Chairman, CEO Consulting for Strategic Growth
Tel: (203) 797-2699 Tel: (800) 625-2236
Fax: (203) 797-2697 Fax: (212) 697-0910
E-mail: E-mail: DATASOURCE: Electro Energy Inc.
CONTACT: Martin G. Klein, Chairman, CEO of Electro Energy Inc., +1-203-797-2699, Fax: +1-203-797-2697, ; or Stanley Wunderlich, Consulting for Strategic Growth, 1-800-625-2236, Fax: +1-212-697-0910, , for Electro Energy Inc.
Web site: http://www.electroenergyinc.com/
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