POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (BRAIN) — Florida e-bike maker Prodeco Technologies has agreed in principal to be acquired by a publicly traded development company, PayMeOn Inc.
Prodeco co-founded Robert Provost and Daniel Del Aguila will remain in charge of the company along with Prodeco's other managers, Ed Cespedes, the CEO of PayMeOn, said Friday.
"We wouldn't have bought the company if it didn't have that team," Cespedes said. "To us, they're the best." He referred to Provost and Del Aguila as "two of the brightest guys in this industry."
PayMeOn had been a minority shareholder in Prodeco Tech. According to a news release, PayMeOn will issue approximately 53.4 million shares in exchange for the remaining 80.6 percent of ProdecoTech that it didn't already own.
PayMeOn trades as a penny stock on the OTCQB market with the ticker symbol PAYM. Its share price closed at 68 cents on Friday.
Prodeco Tech's sales topped $5 million in 2013, according to the news release, and were expected to grow in 2014 and 2015. Its e-bikes, which are assembled in its South Florida headquarters, are sold through some 180 retailers as well as on Amazon.com, SportsAuthority.com, West Marine and ATG Stores.
Provost will be named co-CEO of PayMeOn and will continue as CEO of ProdecoTech. Del Aguila, along with co-founder James Aversa, also will retain their leadership positions with ProdecoTech.
PayMeOn was founded as an online company designed to offer customers cash, or "social income," for successfully referring products and services to others.
Despite spending millions of dollars in development, Cespedes said Friday that the company has yet to bring its "social income" product to market given the complexities and the potential size of the market.
"Our primary focus right now is Prodeco," Cespedes said. "We love the space. We think it's got a mile and a half to grow — make that a hundred miles."
