VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 19, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Glance Technologies Inc. (CSE:GET.CN)
(OTCQB:GLNNF) (FKT:GJT) (“Glance” or the “Company”) today cautioned shareholders that they need to know more about the Vancouver
businessman Hugo Kotar before deciding who to support for the Board of Directors of Glance (the “Board”).
Mr. Kotar is not a dissident nominee for the Board. But Mr. Kotar is important because of his business
association with dissident nominee Spiros Margaris and dissident leader Penny Green. Given Mr. Kotar’s past, the association raises
questions about the due diligence Mr. Margaris and Ms. Green performed.
Vancouver-based Yield Growth Corp. (“Yield”) serves as the dissidents’ connection to Mr. Kotar., Mr. Margaris
and Ms. Green are on the Board of Directors of Yield (the “Yield Board”), a closely-held company that Ms. Green has told Glance she
intends to take public. Mr. Kotar is Yield’s Vice President of Corporate Finance.
There are numerous relationships between the apparently closely-knit Yield Board and management. Ms. Green, in
addition to being a director, is President and CEO. Mr. Kotar’s current partner, Krystal Pineo (who has a social media account
under the name Krystal Kotar), is a director. Until last month Mr. Kotar was also a Yield director and Ms. Pineo was also a Yield
officer.
Looking closely at Mr. Kotar
Glance has looked closely at Mr. Kotar since he signed, as a witness, Ms. Green’s requisition for a Glance
shareholders’ meeting. Glance claims to have learned that Mr. Kotar has been:
- fined by the Investment Industry Regulatory Association of Canada (“IIROC”);
- criticized by a judge for his financial choices and capabilities; and
- pursued in court by creditors when Mr. Kotar did not pay his obligations as they became due.
Mr. Kotar and IIROC
In 2015 Mr. Kotar was fined $20,000 by IIROC. His settlement agreement is available at this link. In summary, he admitted to:
- holding a secret brokerage account in Panama when he was a stockbroker, without the knowledge and consent of his employer;
- not cooperating fully with the initial investigation and attempting to conceal the existence of the foreign trading account;
and
- misleading his employer and the British Columbia Securities Commission during the interview regarding the existence and
ownership of the subject account.
And yet, Mr. Kotar was a Yield director and remains Vice-President of Corporate Finance of Yield, having been
appointed by Yield’s directors.
Mr. Kotar in court
In 2012, in a publicly available judgment involving Mr. Kotar’s divorce from his first wife, a judge of the
Supreme Court of British Columbia (the “Court”) provided insight into Mr. Kotar’s financial affairs and capabilities. Much of the
Court’s 18-page judgment is relevant for Glance’s shareholders and is available on the Court’s website at this link.
Meanwhile, in the interest of brevity, Glance is providing the following excerpts (bold emphasis added):
On Mr. Kotar’s financial affairs:
| |
“The parties’ [Mr. Kotar’s and his ex-wife’s] spending habits were
sustained in part by failing to pay income taxes. This led to the Canada Revenue Agency attaching the
respondent’s [Mr. Kotar’s] income. Additionally, their bank line of credit was often in default.”
“His [Mr. Kotar’s] extravagance is nevertheless noteworthy.”
“The parties [Mr. Kotar and his ex-wife] attempted to sustain their standard of living which was, as it turned out,
well beyond their means. For example, prior to separation, two vehicles were purchased, a Mercedes Benz for
$53,000 for the claimant’s [Mr. Kotar’s ex-wife’s] use and a Porsche for $52,000 for the respondent’s [Mr. Kotar’s]
use.” |
On Mr. Kotar’s capabilities:
| |
…the criminal proceedings
against him … were very destabilizing and briefly led to his imprisonment.”
“Mr. Cicci [a Vice President of Canaccord Genuity Group Inc.] gave evidence that the respondent’s [Mr. Kotar’s] employment
with the firm is in jeopardy. There is no reason to doubt that this is correct… Mr. Cicci is not encouraging about the
respondent’s [Mr. Kotar’s] future employment prospects with Canaccord…. “Mr. Cicci was concerned with the “reputational
damage” the respondent [Mr. Kotar] had imposed on Canaccord.” |
And yet, Mr. Kotar was a Yield director and remains Vice-President of Corporate Finance of Yield, having been
appointed by Yield’s directors.
Mr. Kotar’s creditors
According to British Columbia court files, Mr. Kotar has been pursued by creditors three times for a total of
approximately $45,000.
The claims, all of which resulted in default judgments against Mr. Kotar, were filed by:
- Royal Bank of Canada, Canada’s largest bank;
- Capital One, a bank holding company specializing in credit cards; and
- a computer programmer, who sought payment in small claims court for work that Mr. Kotar allegedly did not fully pay for.
And yet, Mr. Kotar was a Yield director and remains Vice-President of Corporate Finance of Yield, having been
appointed by Yield’s directors.
What Yield’s website says, and does not say
The leadership section of Yield’s website extols “A team that produces” in a headline composed entirely of
capital letters. A supporting message adds “Our highly experienced team of professionals bring extensive backgrounds and
success stories from a variety of relevant industries.”
Yield’s biography for its board member Mr. Margaris presents boundless confidence in that company’s leadership
team. The biography concludes as follows: “Spiros sees The Yield Growth Corp. as one of the great fintech opportunities and
believes in the team, convinced that they can execute on their vision.”
As for Mr. Kotar, the Yield website places significant emphasis on his capital markets experience as “a former
Vice President of Canaccord and PI Financial.” There is no reference to the comments of Canaccord’s Mr. Cicci with regard to
“reputational damage” caused to Canaccord by Mr. Kotar. There is no reference to Mr. Kotar’s limited tenure at PI Financial, where
he lasted only seven months. There is no reference to the IIROC fine.
Questions for Mr. Margaris and Ms. Green
Here are some questions that Glance shareholders should now be asking Mr. Margaris and Ms. Green:
- Do Mr. Margaris and Ms. Green believe that the Yield website provides full, true and plain disclosure with regard to Mr.
Kotar?
- What due diligence did Ms. Green conduct prior to appointing Mr. Kotar to the Yield Board and approving his appointment as VP
Corporate Finance at Yield?
- What due diligence did Mr. Margaris perform before joining Ms. Green, Mr. Kotar and Ms. Pineo on the Yield Board and before
approving the appointment of Mr. Kotar as VP Corporate Finance?
- Do Mr. Margaris and Ms. Green believe that their due diligence was adequate?
Glance and Yield
Glance directly and indirectly owns a minority interest (approximately 27% as of April 4, 2018) in Yield
(formerly Cannapay Financial Inc.). Despite its ownership, Glance has a limited voice in Yield’s affairs. Yield is controlled by
Ms. Green, as Yield’s Chief Executive Officer and the Yield Board. Based on the information about Mr. Kotar, Glance advises that,
as a Yield shareholder, it will not support any of Yield’s current directors.
Glance’s forthcoming MIC
Glance intends to include a complete response in its forthcoming management information circular (the “MIC”) to
proxy fight communications issued by Penny Green. Glance expects to file the MIC, including a description of Glance’s excellent
progress and prospects, well in advance of the contested June 12, 2018 shareholders’ meeting. Pursuant to applicable securities
laws, Glance does not intend to solicit proxies for that meeting until the MIC has been filed.
About Glance Technologies Inc.
Glance Technologies owns and operates Glance Pay, a streamlined payment system that revolutionizes how
smartphone users choose where to shop, order goods and services, make payments, access digital receipts, redeem digital deals, earn
great rewards & interact with merchants. Glance offers targeted in-app marketing, geo targeted digital coupons, customer
feedback, in-merchant messaging and custom rewards programs. The Glance Pay mobile payment system consists of proprietary
technology, which includes user apps available for free downloads in IOS (Apple) and Android formats, merchant manager apps, a
large scale technology hosting environment with sophisticated anti-fraud technology and lightning fast payment processing.
Glance has also recently purchased a blockchain solution and is working on a rewards based cryptocurrency.
For more information about Glance, please go to www.glance.tech.
For more information, contact:
| David Jan |
Paola Ashton |
| Investor Relations |
VP Business Development
|
| 1-866-258-1249 |
604-839-0337 |
| investors@glancepay.com
|
|
Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in
the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking information or forward-looking statements (collectively
“forward-looking information”) within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information is typically
identified by words such as: “may”, “believe”, “thinks”, “expect”, “exploring”, “expand”, “could”, “anticipate”, “intend”,
“estimate”, “plan”, “pursue”, “potentially”, “projected”, “should”, “will” and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their
nature, refer to future events. These forward-looking statements, which involve risks and uncertainties, relate to, among other
things, Glance intention not to support any of Yield’s current directors Glance’s intention to file a response to Ms. Green’s proxy
fight communications well in advance of June 12, 2018 shareholders’ meeting, Glance’s expectation that the MIC will include a
complete response to Ms. Green’s proxy fight communications, Glance’s expectation that the MIC will include a description of
Glance’s excellent progress and prospects, and Glance’s intention not to solicit proxies for the June 12, 2018 shareholders’
meeting until the MIC has been filed. Although Glance considers these forward-looking statements to be reasonable based on
information currently available to it, they may prove to be incorrect, and the forward-looking statements in this release are
subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause future results to differ materially from those expressed
or implied in such forward-looking statements. Such risk factors include, among other things, risks related to the ability of
Glance to file a response to Ms. Green’s proxy fight communications on schedule and the risk that Glance will fail to have
excellent progress and prospects. Forward-looking information and forward-looking statements are in addition based on various
estimates, forecasts and projects as well as expectations, beliefs and assumptions, including, without limitation, that the
response to Ms. Green’s proxy fight communications will contain a description of Glance’s excellent progress and prospects and the
timing for filing this response. For additional information with respect to these and other factors and assumptions
underlying the forward looking statements in this press release, see the section entitled “Risk Factors” in the most recent
Prospectus of Glance, which may be accessed through Glance’s profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Glance cautions investors that any
forward-looking information provided by Glance is not a guarantee of future results or performance, and that actual results may
differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Undue reliance should not be placed on such forward-looking
information, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are based will occur.
