Masterfile & Arius3d acquisition closing date extended, Arius3D pays MF 450k

[SoylentGreen]

Masterfile & Arius3d acquisition closing date extended, Arius3D pays MF 450k

- Closing date extended to Nov 30, 2011
- Arius3D to pay MF $450,000 by Nov 4, 2011
- Arius3D to continue seeking financing
- $300,000 remains in an escrow account, payable to MF if the deal falls through

http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story.asp?storyid=%7B2911551d-419a-40a3-b9c8-a7d5ddada8fc%7D

I'm not surprised that Arius3D is having trouble securing financing for this deal.

S.G.

[Matthew Chan]

Well, this is certainly interesting.... Masterfile being bought by another company.

I wonder how this will impact Masterfile's extortion letter program.

Matthew

[SoylentGreen]

There were several posts on the forum about this at the end of August.  It's a really strange deal.
With the stock photo industry declining, I'm sure that Arius3D is buying MF mostly to sue for infringements.

S.G.

[Oscar Michelen]

I agree. Thats a big part of their business now

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

Be interesting to see how this shakes out as we near Nov 30..

[SoylentGreen]

I've been thinking of this too.

Arius3d appears to be a company having trouble.
I find it odd that some of it's top people sound pretty impressive... but are these people just "slumming" there until the economy takes a better turn?
Or, have they just padded their resumes?  Weird.

I'd be surprised if they find an investor willing to put up the money.

S.G.

[Jerry Witt (mcfilms)]

This is purely my opinion. But this is how things seem to work in the world today:

Arius3D has some cash on hand, but their business model isn't sustainable. It doesn't look good for anyone if they just fold up the tent and close shop. Instead, they work out this highly unlikely deal with Masterfile. Here's what happens once Arius3D cannot find someone to front the money to buy Masterfile: Masterfile gets the money already ensconced in the escrow account, Arius3D files for bankruptcy protection, any shareholders in Arius3D are out of luck. If this scenario plays out over the next several months, you can expect members of the Aius3D board to end up in very nice jobs at Masterfile or its affiliates.

Again, this is just my opinion.

[SoylentGreen]

McFilms,

That's quite an insightful post.  Quite interesting.

It does surprise me in our Western society that execs who fail (or come from companies that fail horribly) continue to have "golden parachutes" and "land in soft places".
It would be intriguing to see if a handful of high-paid people would actually help MF, or just make it management top-heavy.
It's great if new management arrives with new ideas, executes those ideas and increases the bottom line.
But, if they're just chair-warmers with a corner office (i.e. "I have a great idea!  Let's send more extortion letters" or "microstock is the way of the future"), then it's just a terrible waste of resources.
Maybe I've just described part of corporate "America" that failed so badly recenty?

Again, great post... I'll certainly revisit your post if this comes to fruition...

S.G.

[Steve]

You got to wonder why anyone would want to do business with these firms when a major source of their income is from unsavory acts.  I see most of these executives hobnob at these PACA meetings.  Maybe they are all cut from the same cloth?  If so, these meetings must look like a bunch of men stroking their pointy beards while laughing maliciously and the women all stirring a boiling cauldron.
I think that image popped into my head because Halloween just passed.  Wait, is that image copyrighted?  Now Shakespeare is going to sue me for ripping off MacBeth!

[Bekka]

It looks like the acquisition has been extended to Jan. 31, 2012.  Here is the latest article I could find.  Note the last part, noting economic times!  It sure doesn't cross Masterfile's mind when seeking such large settlements from small companies.

http://www.photolicensingoptions.com/ViewArticle.aspx?code=JHP2521

I just have a hard time believing photographers would associate with companies that would engage in these practices, especially with all the negative publicity against these stock photo houses.

[Jerry Witt (mcfilms)]

Arius 3D is now trading at 3.5¢ per share and has a market cap of $4.23M. I do not believe they have any chance of acquiring Masterfile. In fact, as I stated earlier, it is my personal opinion that this deal was cooked up to suck whatever cash is on hand out of Arius, transfer it to MF and then have Arius file for bankruptcy. This is all conjecture on my part, but I encourage you to watch it play out.

Also, if I lived in Canada and received a demand letter from MF, I'd probably be trying to fill in the rest of the details on this scam business deal and put some information together for the Canadian equivalent of the Securities and Exchange commission.

'Course this is just what I would do and this is just my opinion.

[Bekka]

In fact, as I stated earlier, it is my personal opinion that this deal was cooked up to suck whatever cash is on hand out of Arius, transfer it to MF and then have Arius file for bankruptcy. This is all conjecture on my part, but I encourage you to watch it play out.

I believe you are right on the mark.  Arius3D was formerly known as "Rebecca Capital."  It was a capital pool company.  See the links below, the 2nd one describes what a capital pool company does.

http://www.arius3d.com/news/Release021610.pdf

http://www.tmx.com/en/pdf/CPCBrochure.pdf

Why would Arius set aside money in escrow and pay out money to Masterfile?

Well it seems that Masterfile's foray into Europe was financed by a ROI Capital investment.  See below:

http://canadatech.info/modules/news/index.php?page=print&storyid=487

Now the kicker.  These investments are part of a retirement fund promoted by ROI Capital.  I could not find a company snapshot of Masterfile's Canadian and US profile, but I was able to find one for their UK venture, aka Masterfile UK Limited.  Here it is....

http://companycheck.co.uk/company/04194447

Now if I were shopping for an investment fund, I am not sure I would be to pleased to see the info in the above snapshot.  I certainly hope the Canadian and US ventures are faring better!  Their net worth is in the red, and the liabilities exceed their assets.

This was a little challenging considering Wikipedia is blacked out now, but I would love to find the connections among the owners of the three entities in this triangle.

[SoylentGreen]

There was some previous mention of the Jan 31, 2012 deadline here also:

http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/getty-images-letter-forum/no-masterfile-arius-deal/

But yeah, I was already pretty sure that MF is a crooked company what with the outrageous settlement claims it makes, along with the shady paperwork.

I know that it would be wrong to tell people to "ignore" these claims, but I'm pretty disappointed that so many people fall for the ruse and pay.
Which has kept this going for a long time.

S.G.

[Peeved]

Here's a live shot at a certain desk at MF:

S.G.

As always your humor is appreciated regarding such non-humorous dealings with the trolls. Thank you!
 

[Jerry Witt (mcfilms)]

This was a little challenging considering Wikipedia is blacked out now, but I would love to find the connections among the owners of the three entities in this triangle.

Me too. And that is the tough part. But it's funny when you start pairing up the names of members of Board of Directors what you sometimes discover.