HiQ wins framework agreement with the Municipalities of Skurup, Trelleborg and Ystad for innovation and organisational development services. HiQ was chosen as a supplier after a new approach to procurement that involved a week-long live-streamed innovation sprint. “We are very happy and proud about the agreement and at least as happy and proud about the journey that took us there. We have a lot of experience in building platforms for tangible innovation and having the opportunity to also do it in the procurement phase is really great,” says Magnus Gudéhn, interim Managing Director of HiQ Skåne.

All three municipalities wanted to increase their innovation capacity while streamlining and reducing costs for their efforts.

“We have long felt that we set the parameters entirely too early when selecting suppliers and systems, which hampers our ambition to create new digital solutions for our residents. So, we wanted to challenge both ourselves and the suppliers and try something new,” said Ulf Wedberg, Digitalisation Strategist at Ystad Municipality, one of the initiators of the collective procurement.

They chose to invite the suppliers to an innovation sprint instead of a traditional procurement process. They were invited, independent of each other, to hold an innovation sprint over the course of a week that was simultaneously live-streamed to the procurement team. The three sprints were run in parallel on a rotating schedule that helped the team get an overall picture so they could make a qualified assessment.

“We’ve never been involved in such an effective way of both managing a procurement and clearly being able to see that we prioritised correctly going forward,” says Wedberg.

The agreement was signed with three suppliers after the process was completed for three + two years and the procurement was also nominated as Innovative Procurement of the Year.

“Both the process and the result of the innovation sprint usually make for an aha moment, leading to faster, better and more precise solutions. This is one of HiQ’s core competencies and we are very glad that the municipalities have realised how powerful it is and taken the chance to challenge existing ways of doing things,” says Johannes Arnkvist, design manager at HiQ Skåne.

OR Technologies, part of the Fagerhult Group, chooses HiQ as its strategic partner for establishing a new centre of excellence and development in Linköping. The centre will continue to develop Organic Response, the company’s platform for smart lighting. “It’s very exciting to help Fagerhult Group and OR Technologies get established in Linköping and we look forward to helping develop smart solutions for the intelligent offices and buildings of the future,” says Patrik Holm, Managing Director at HiQ in Linköping.

The centre of excellence in Linköping is an important part of Fagerhult Group’s long-term ambition to offer world-class solutions for smart and sustainable lighting. The focus of the centre of excellence and the collaboration with HiQ is to further develop OR Technologies’ Organic Response platform – an integrated system for controlling and monitoring the smart lighting solutions of the future. The system uses distributed intelligence to control lighting in a climate-smart manner based on physical presence.

HiQ will support the company during the establishment phase to ensure a fast and successful start. That means delivering both strategic guidance and expertise in areas like project management, system and software development, IoT and systems integration.

“Fast-paced development is crucial to taking advantage of the opportunities presented by smart lighting control solutions. With HiQ as a partner, we’ll get a head start and quickly gear up our operations in Linköping. With their previous start-up record and experience with IoT, I’m convinced that it will be a success”, says Dean Campbell-Smith at OR Technologies.

“Fagerhult Group is a leader in smart lighting and with us as a partner, I’m sure we’ll consolidate their position. I’m really looking forward to this collaboration, which will also expand our experience in PropTech and smart buildings,” says Patrik Holm, MD of HiQ in Linköping.

Fagerhult Group is one of Europe’s leading lighting businesses with 4,700 employees in 28 countries. The company has 13 strong brands that all provide high-quality, professional lighting solutions for a variety of uses.

OR Technologies is a company in the Fagerhult Group. Since 2011, it has focussed on creating lighting control systems based on user friendliness and ease of installation. The company’s products and Organic Response platform come with lighting solutions from the Group’s various brands.

HiQ is chosen to support St1’s mobile applications in all Nordic countries. St1 offers its customers comprehensive mobile services through mobile applications, incl. mobile payment, mobile refueling, country-specific loyalty benefits and credit card services including ApplePay. “St1 is an important partner for us and I’m really proud that we can expand our collaboration further", says Lars Stugemo, CEO and President of HiQ.

St1 invests in digitalization and mobile services. Reliable operation of production applications enables high-quality customer experience. It allows St1 to focus their resources to development of new services.

In addition to daily operations, HiQ’s mobile support provides extensive proactive support. HiQ proactively keeps track of the changes in operating system versions. When updates are released, tests are run, and possible problems fixed. Mobile support also provides tailored view into mobile market with applications review tracking and comparison. The mobile application market moves fast with almost 20 new operating system versions released yearly.

“We want to provide our customers stable and evolving applications. HiQ’s services takes care of production operations and keeps track of the mobile platforms for us. This allows our own personnel to focus on the design and development of new services”, says Linda Pihl, Head of Digital, St1 Nordic.

Evolving support services
HiQ support services takes care of more than a hundred customers’ digital investments. The improved support packages combine control over production with continuous development of services. Tailored support with solution specific features provides holistic view over the service lifecycle.

“Maintenance and continuous improvement are an integral part of value we provide. We are proud that our partnership with St1 will deepen into mobile support”, comments Timo Vesa, Director, Lifecycle Services at HiQ Finland.

St1 – Energy Company that Challenges the Conventional
St1 operates in Finland, Sweden and Norway. The focus of our operations is on fuels marketing activities and renewable energy solutions as well as developing and refining liquid fuels. St1’s distribution network for transport fuels comprises over 1,300 St1 and Shell petrol stations in Finland, Sweden and Norway. The Shell brand is in use under a license agreement. The two brands complement each other: with their different offerings and strong service concepts we can reach a wider customer base. All in all, there are over 600,000 customers that visits St1’s sites every day.

The Board of Directors of HiQ has decided to unanimously recommend the shareholders of HiQ to accept Triton’s, through Trisall AB, revised public takeover bid. The takeover bid consists of a cash consideration of SEK 72 per share, which corresponds to a total value of HiQ of SEK 4,021 million.

Background
This statement is made by the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of HiQ International AB (publ) (“HiQ” or the “Company”) pursuant to Section II.9 of Nasdaq Stockholm’s Takeover Rules (the “Takeover Rules”).

Triton Fund V (“Triton”), through Trisall AB (“Trisall”), submitted, on 26 August 2020, a public takeover bid to the shareholders of HiQ to transfer all of their respective shares in HiQ to Trisall for a cash consideration of SEK 70 per share. The acceptance period commenced 10 September 2020 and end 1 October 2020.

Today, 15 September 2020, Trisall announced that they will increase the consideration in the offer to SEK 72 in cash for each share (the “Offer”).

Further information concerning the Offer is available in Triton’s bid press release from 26 August 2020, Triton’s press release from 15 September 2020, the offer document that Trisall published shortly before the beginning of the acceptance period and the bidder’s website www.invest-to-lead.com.

The Board of HiQ has engaged Danske Bank as financial advisor and Setterwalls Advokatbyrå as legal advisor in relation to the Offer.

As a part of the Board’s assessment of the Offer, the Board has also engaged Öhrlings PricewaterhouseCoopers AB (”PwC”) for a statement regarding the valuation of the Offer (a so-called “Fairness Opinion”). In the Fairness Opinion, which is attached as an appendix to this press release, PwC deems the Offer made to shareholders to be fair from a financial perspective, based on the assumptions and considerations included in the statement.

The Board’s recommendation
The Board bases its view of the Offer on an evaluation of a number of factors that the Board has deemed relevant in their assessment of the Offer. These factors include, but are not limited to, HiQ’s current standing, HiQ’s expected future development and potential as well as related opportunities and risks.

The Board concludes that the Offer of SEK 72 per share, corresponding to SEK 4,021 million, implies a premium of c. 29 percent compared to the closing price of SEK 55.90 on 25 August 2020 and approximately 30 percent compared to the volume weighted average price on Nasdaq Stockholm of SEK 55.20 on 25 August 2020.

In the assessment of the Offer, the Board has considered the Fairness Opinion by PwC, according to which the Offer is deemed fair for HiQ’s shareholders from a financial perspective, based on the assumptions and considerations included in the statement.

Against this background, the Board unanimously recommends the shareholders of HiQ to accept the Offer.

According to the Takeover Rules, the Board shall, based on what Triton, through Trisall, has stated in the announcement of the Offer, provide its understanding of the effect that the execution of the Offer will have on HiQ, particularly with regards to employment, and its understanding of Triton’s strategic plans for HiQ and the subsequent effects these could have on employment and the locations in which HiQ operates its business.

Triton, through Trisall, has expressed the following concerning the employees and management group in HiQ:

“As it enters the next phase of growth supported by Triton, HiQ’s unique culture is fundamental in creating a Northern European leader. Triton will assist HiQ’s managers and employees to cement its position as an attractive employer by supporting implementation of programs for personal and professional development, career opportunities, as well as training. These measures will apply to existing and new hires; in line with Triton’s desire to launch a new growth phase. In addition to the above, Triton does not expect that the Offer will have any significant effects for HiQ’s employees, their terms of employment or employment at those sites where HiQ conducts its business today.”

The Board assumes that this description is correct and therefore does not see any reason to have a different perception in the relevant matters.

This statement shall, in all respects, be subject to and interpreted in accordance with Swedish law. Disputes in connection with this statement shall exclusively be decided in a Swedish court of law.

In order to allow persons discharging managerial responsibilities to accept the public Offer during the acceptance period (according to the prohibition on trading according to the EU Market Abuse Regulation), the Board has decided to postpone the interim report for January – September 2020 to 10 November 2020.

Stockholm, 15 September 2020

HiQ International AB (publ)
The Board of Directors