This past quarter has been a difficult and mercurial one both in the financial markets and, more importantly, the world! President George W. Bush has victoriously fought wars both in Afghanistan and Iraq. Yet since the capture of Saddam, his ratings have slumped badly. Now faced with a strong Democratic candidate, John Kerry, he faces an uphill task. Reference is made to Winston Churchill whom literally saved Britain and quite possibly all of Europe and maybe even the world from the hated Nazis till the American’s entered WWII. Yet immediately after victory was in hand, the English voters shockingly turned on him, losing the subsequent election for Prime Minister in one of the largest landslides in Parliamentary History. In an apparent paradox, the more Bush wins the war on terrorism, the more politically vulnerable he gets. The financial markets have reflected this political indecision, tempers are running high. As we enter the election year’s critical summer months, we expect to see the volatility continue untill the issue of the next administration is firmly resolved.
This past quarter has been a prodigious one at WPs. We are very pleased to have been instrumental in assisting in the funding of four portfolio companies: Roomlinx, a 2003 consulting client and ARC Communications (“ACOC”) have announced plans to merge (a “reverse merger”) and have recently closed a $1.25 private placement in which clients and friends of our firm did approximately half. In addition we introduced to ACOC two old “friends” of WPs whom will be shortly introduced as their new CEO and CFO respectively; secondly, Chembio Diagnostic Systems recently likewise agreed to a reverse merger and in conjunction with HC Wainwright & Co. Inc., we were instrumental in the recent $1.1M convertible bridge loan which will fund their current growth. We were also the finders in the approximate $4M strategic partnership and merger between Image Innovation Holding Inc (“IMGV”) and MDK Sport & Entertainment and would like to thank in particular Ray Bloom and Chris Smith for there efforts in bringing this to fruition. Besides the aforementioned, we were pleased to introduce to our growing family of Investment Banking Consulting clientele the following companies: Net Cigar, (Long Island, NY), Madalino Restaurant Corp., (Long Island, NY), VTEX Energy (“VTEX”), (Houston, TX), Global Homes, (Long Island, NY), Wizzard Software, (Pittsburgh, PA), HealthQuest/HAIN, (New York, NY/Long Island, NY), Epikia/HealthQuest, (San Antonio, TX/New York, NY), ADNOODLE, (New York, NY), Arc Communication (“ACOC”), (Hackensack, NJ), Bergamo Acquisition Corp., (Los Angeles, CA), Dobi Medical International (“DBMI”), (Mahwah, NJ), Icons of Football, (London, UK), Endeavor RE, (Hauppauge, NY), Availent Financial (“AVFL”), (Dallas, TX) and Advanced Reconnaissance Corp., (Fishkill, NY) and Absolute Waste (“ABSW”), (Corpus Christi, TX). We would also like to welcome a new comrade to our firm, Alex Fainberg who joins us as a new registered representative/banker and we sincerely congratulate Michelle-Lee Cona for her likewise becoming an account executive of out brokerage affiliate and extended member of our banking team. We are also pleased to announce the formation of a new affiliated company: Wellfleet Partners So Cal (Southern California), under the leadership of Elliot Goldstein, will be a reference guide for small to medium sized, emerging growth companies on the West Coast, press release available upon request. We are pleased to announce that Paul Michaels has been appointed to WPs Advisory Board. You can see his bio on our website at www.wellfleetpartners.com. He and Mr. Lev, our Chairman & CEO, are long time friends and were co-founders of his initial Investment Banking Company, Global Capital Group in 1988. We welcome him aboard and are confident that his efforts to help us to enlarge our corporate clientele (currently 122 corporate clients) especially in his domicile of Florida as well as extend our capital resources in Asia, in particular Japan where he has extensive contacts. Finally, we want to congratulate Bill Rancic, winner of “The Apprentice”, the founder of our corporate client Synergy Brands’ (“SYBR”) subsidiary, Cigars Around The World.
Finally, April 1st marks WPs 6th year Anniversary. Along the way we’ve made many friends and helped numerous companies get the financing or management support they have needed to develop their businesses. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our wonderful Advisory Board and in particular Scott Munro, Dr. Robin Smith and Dr. Hank Ross for their great support and friendship all these years. April 1st, 2004, which would have been my father’s 85th birthday, is of particular note. While several of you already know, many of you do not: Wellfleet Partners was named in His honor after his company Wellfleet Textiles and thus our slogan which is proudly displayed on our website home page and old and new brochure (expected May ’04): “Nova Ex Veteris” meaning “The New must be born of the Old.”
Note: This report was produced by Wellfleet Partners, Inc. (“WPs”) from various public research sources, for the sole purpose of general information. WP makes no warranties to its factual content and is not a brokerage firm, registered Investment Advisor nor securities dealer; therefore, nothing contained in this report shall constitute an offer to sell, solicit or buy any securities or investment advice. Investment in these securities mentioned here involves risk and should not be considered without first reading the target Company’s most recent financial statements, 10Q and 10K, its Private Placement, Offering Memorandum or Business Plan, if applicable, and discussing the investment with your registered representative or professional financial advisor. Venture capital and investment in the market is inherently extremely risky. Mr. Lev, the author of this newsletter as well as other members of WPs and SR, are registered representatives of J.P. Turner & Company, LLC, and NASD member broker-dealer principally headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
