"RapidEye will continue to operate as an independent company, leveraging a new strong German management team in order to maintain its successful brand and relationships," commented Ryan Johnson, President and CEO of Iunctus Geomatics. "Iunctus will continue to invest in RapidEye as we focus on creating a more customer-focused approach and additional value for our customers through our reorganization activities."
The purchase of RapidEye further increases Iunctus Geomatics' presence in the worldwide geo-information market. The acquisition combines one of the world's largest commercial archives of satellite imagery with Iunctus' already extensive distribution channels for satellite data and value-added solutions.
"This acquisition gives our clients an excellent choice of satellite imagery, meeting their high resolution and large area coverage requirements. This also provides an avenue for Iunctus to expand into an international distribution network for many of our products and services," added Johnson.
Dr. Manfred Krischke will be returning to RapidEye after co-founding the company in 1998. "During the next month we will review the current organization with the most important goal of continuing and improving our service to existing and current clients and partners." commented Dr. Krischke. "I will consider it a positive sign that we acquired RapidEye on the anniversary of the launch of the satellites."
RapidEye's five identical Earth Observation satellites were launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on August 29, 2008.
RapidEye and Iunctus will now provide a complete geoinformation value chain and will focus on customer relationships and developing strong partnerships.
About Iunctus
Iunctus Geomatics Corp. is the leading supplier of optical satellite imagery to government and industry in Canada and the operator of the first commercial ground stations in Canada. Iunctus Geomatics provides a wide range of geomatics products and services for its clients, including satellite data, value added imagery, data management/hosting and satellite tasking. For more information, visit www.terraengine.com.
About RapidEye
RapidEye is a provider of quality high-resolution satellite imagery and derived geo-information products. With a constellation of five Earth Observation satellites, RapidEye images over 4 million square kilometers of earth every day, and amassed 2 billion square kilometers in its archive in just over two years of commercial operation. With an unprecedented combination of wide area repetitive coverage and five meter pixel size multi-spectral imagery, RapidEye is a natural choice for many industries and government agencies. RapidEye: Delivering the World. www.rapideye.de.
Contacts: Iunctus Geomatics Corp. Brett Michelson Vice President Business Development Email Contact Iunctus Geomatics Corp. 401 - 817 4th Avenue South Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada T1J 0P3 www.terraengine.com RapidEye Canada Ltd. Kim Douglass Communications Manager Molkenmarkt 30 - 14776 Brandenburg a. d. Havel, Germany Email Contact www.rapideye.de
