MIND Technology, Inc. has sold its Klein Marine Systems ("Klein") unit for cash consideration of $11.5 million to General Oceans, Inc. ("General Oceans"), a subsidiary of General Oceans AS. Pursuant to the transaction, MIND has licensed its Spectral Ai software suite ("Spectral Ai") to General Oceans for certain applications, particularly side-scan sonar.
MIND and General Oceans have also entered into a Collaboration Agreement for the further development of Spectral Ai and potentially other software projects. The transaction closed August 21, 2023.
Klein has served the offshore mapping and defense industries for over 50 years and will strengthen General Oceans' already substantial capabilities in subsea sensors, serving applications from seafloor mapping to mission-specific autonomous vehicles.
Rob Capps, MIND's President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "With the continued growth and opportunity we are seeing in our Seamap unit, which has seen robust customer interest in recent quarters related to our GunLink, BuoyLink and SeaLink products, we feel that it is prudent to shift our focus and capital to those operations. In addition to providing expansion capital for our Seamap unit, this sale also enabled us to repay the high-cost debt that we incurred earlier this year, making MIND once again debt free.
"We are excited to be able to continue to work with Klein and General Oceans in the licensing and further development of our Spectral Ai software suite. Through our Collaboration Agreement, we plan to continue the development of Spectral Ai for side scan sonar operations, and we expect this to deliver us growing and recurring royalty income. Additionally, we intend to expand Spectral Ai to other applications and potentially provide other software development services to General Oceans.
"In addition to traditional energy-related opportunities, we are seeing new alternative energy applications for our Seamap technologies, including offshore windfarms and other green energy projects. We also see growing opportunities to provide seismic streamer repair services, not only for our SeaLink streamers, but also for products manufactured by others. We believe there may be other opportunities to continue expanding our offerings in these areas.
"We will continue to develop and promote our Sea Serpent passive array system for maritime defense and security. We believe this product, which is derived from the commercially developed SeaLink system, is a robust and economical solution for these demanding applications.
"MIND is now a more streamlined and focused company. We think this positions us well to capitalize on emerging opportunities and deliver value to our stockholders," concluded Capps.
