Shareholders of Norway's Opticom are meeting on Wednesday to decide who controls the company once feted by technology giants but now reduced to what its own managing director calls a "dead cat."
The real prize, though, is not Opticom but its 27 percent controlling stake in search technology company Fast Search & Transfer. Fast has a market value of about 5.7 billion Norwegian crowns ($840 million).
"Opticom in effect controls Fast," Fonsfinans analyst Arild Nysaether said.
Analysts said Fast could become a takeover target if control of Opticom changes hands.
After a four-week quarrel played out across Norway's media, supporters of two British investors who control Opticom will try to face down another group of shareholders who want to reduce their grip. Opticom shareholders begin meeting at 7:30 a.m. PT to try to decide on members of the board.
Opticom, through its subsidiary Thin Film, once thought it could revolutionize microchip manufacturing. It designed a way of producing microchips on plastic--it believed it would be cheaper, faster, lighter than using silicon--that caught the attention of the world's biggest chipmaker, Intel.
But the dream vanished when Opticom realized that it would be harder than thought to mass produce the microchips, and Intel pulled out.
"I look at the cat. It looks dead, it smells dead, and when I kick it, it doesn't move," said Robert Keith, the British investor who has been at the helm of Opticom.
The cat Keith kicked is Opticom.
He and business partner Thomas Fussell directly own 11 percent, but combined with allies, they control about 45 percent of Opticom.
Opticom's stake in Fast is worth fighting for, and Opticom's share price has risen 191 percent since Nov. 8, as shareholders have scrambled to buy stock and voting rights.
Fast makes real-time data search and filter software for businesses, and has signed deals with major international companies.
Norwegian food-to-metals group Orkla has 4.5 percent of Fast, while archaeologist Hans Gude Gudesen has 3.9 percent. Both want the influence of Keith and Fussell reduced.
Opticom chairman Fussell is also the chairman of Fast, and Keith and Gudesen are board members of both companies.
Shares in Fast have been on the rise this year, reaching an all-time high on Oct. 5 of 26.80 Norwegian crowns ($3.96). It reported a 61 percent rise in third-quarter revenue and said it was on track to deliver record results for the year.
By 5:20 a.m. PT, Fast shares traded flat at 25 Norwegian crowns ($3.70). Opticom shares traded up 4.4 percent at 201 Norwegian crowns ($29.74). At its peak, Opticom shares were worth 12 times as much.
Last week, in a move seen as protective to Keith and Fussell, Fast bought a stake of 9.9 percent in Opticom.
Fast management said it bought the shares to secure an ownership of Fast with a long-term view. On Wednesday, it called a second Opticom shareholder meeting for later this month.
