eMagin Hits the Public Market, Raises $27 Million in Private Placement

In a somewhat unusual method for going public, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display manufacturer eMagin Corp. (Hopewell Junction, NY), formerly FED Corp., merged with a publicly traded shell company called Fashion Dynamics Inc. to reach the public market without the normal IPO procedures. In the aftermath of the merger, eMagin began trading on the American Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol EMA.

"It saved several months of time in getting stock out there in public market," said president and CEO Gary Jones, explaining the unorthodox market entry. "This was really the right time to be in the public market for our sector."

The stock hit the market Friday at 5 5/16, and rose to a peak of 23 7/8 earlier today before closing at 21 ¾; volume was more than 850,000.

Coincident with the merger, the company raised $27 million in a private placement led by Citigroup and Verus International Ltd.

"The completion of this financing, as well as new access to the capital markets, will allow us to continue our transition along our business plan from R&D into initial manufacturing this year," says Jones.

eMagin combines integrated circuits, microdisplays, and optics to create a virtual image equivalent to the real image of a computer monitor or large screen TV. The microdisplays are based on fundamental OLED (organic light emitting diode) technology licensed from Eastman Kodak leveraged with eMagin's own intellectual property portfolio.

Edited by Kristin Lewotsky