24 June 2013

OPEL’s AGM agrees name change to POET Technologies Inc

OPEL Technologies Inc of Toronto, Ontario, Canada – which develops III-V semiconductor devices and processes through US affiliate OPEL Defense Integrated Systems (ODIS Inc) of Storrs, CT, USA – says that at its Annual General & Special Meeting (AGM) its shareholders approved the change of the firm’s name to POET Technologies Inc. Previously, through its subsidiary OPEL Solar Inc, the firm made high-concentration photovoltaic (HCPV) panels and solar tracker systems, but last December OPEL divested its solar operations.

At the AGM, shareholders were presented with updates by executive chairman Mark Benadiba and CEO Leon M. Pierhal on the status of the firm. Each reinforced that the core component of the strategy going forward is for ODIS to continue to develop the firm’s proprietary planar-optoelectronic technology (POET) platform.

Developed by chief scientist Dr Geoff Taylor and his team over the past 18 years in cooperation with the University of Connecticut in Storrs, OPEL’s POET platform enables monolithic fabrication of integrated circuit gallium arsenide (GaAs) III-V semiconductor devices containing both electronic and optical elements on a single wafer. By offering components with increased speed, density, reliability, power efficiency and lower costs, POET offers the ability to push Moore’s Law to the next level, claims the firm, overcoming existing silicon-based bottlenecks and potentially changing the roadmap for a broad range of applications, such as servers, smartphones, tablet and wearable computers.

Also at the AGM, shareholders approved the New By-Law No. 1, the 2013 Stock Option Plan and the election of the following nominees to the board of directors (as was proposed in the Information Circular): Mark Benadiba, Peter Copetti, Adam Chowaniec, John F. O’Donnell, Dr Samuel Peralta, Leon M. Pierhal, Dr Geoff Taylor, and Chris Tsiofas. All directors received the required majority vote from shareholders.

In a board meeting following the AGM, the board reappointed the following executive officers: Mark Benadiba (executive chairman); Leon M. Pierhal (president & CEO); Kevin Barnes (treasurer & chief financial officer); Lee Shepherd (VP of technology); Michel Lafrance (corporate secretary); and Blaine Grisel (controller).

OPEL establishes Special Strategic Committee to evaluate sale or licensing of POET platform

Previously, on 10 June, OPEL announced that it had established a Special Strategic Committee (SSC) of its board of directors, with the mandate to: evaluate strategic alternatives in relation to the sale or licensing of the firm’s proprietary POET platform; deliver recommendations to the board; and carry out any selected transactions to completion (as confirmed by the board).

OPEL has not established a definitive timeline for the SSC review process but will be assessing all available alternatives over the next few months. The firm’s current intention is not to disclose developments with respect to the process, unless and until the board has approved a specific transaction or otherwise determines that disclosure is necessary or appropriate. OPEL cautions that there are no assurances or guarantees that the process will result in a transaction.

On recommendation of its Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee, the board has named executive director Peter Copetti as chair of the SSC. Copetti was also given the authority to assemble his own team of industry experts, to be used in concert with the OPEL personnel he deems beneficial to achieve the goal of delivering on the mandate of the SSC.

“His tenacity of purpose and vision has been the driving force behind the commercial focus of our POET platform,” comments executive chairman Mark Benadiba about Copetti. The POET platform is currently the basis for a number of key commercial and military projects now in the delivery pipeline – including optical code division multiple access (OCDMA) devices for avionics systems, combined RF/optical phased arrays, optoelectronic directional couplers, and ultra-low-power random access memory (RAM).

Tags: OPEL ODIS POET

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