OPERATIONS

Bridgestone in mining tyre licence deal

Tyre maker Bridgestone has taken an exclusive worldwide licence to the iTrack Solutions tyre monitoring solutions business from UK-based Transense Technologies for about US$1.01 million.

 Bridgestone has taken the exclusive worldwide licence to the iTrack tyre monitoring system.

Bridgestone has taken the exclusive worldwide licence to the iTrack tyre monitoring system.

ITrack offers a comprehensive tyre pressure monitoring system specifically designed for mining tyres.

Besides providing tyre temperature and pressure monitoring it also provides customisable geofencing and speed alerts.

Transense and Bridgestone entered into a joint collaboration agreement in August with Bridgestone referring its off the road tyre customers to the iTrack platform.

Under that agreement Bridgestone offered the iTrack system exclusively as a mining tyre monitoring system for tyres 57 inches and above.

Customer response to the tyre management platform was positive enough to lead Bridgestone to take the licence and expand the offering to other OTR customers.

Bridgestone had provided Transense with a working capital facility of US$750,000 to support the anticipated increased sales activity.

It gave another loan of US$1.2 million in March to fund additional working capital.

The joint collaboration agreement was terminated on June 24 and repayment of the loans has been factored into the licencing consideration.

Under the licence Transense will receive quarterly royalty payments based on the number and classification of vehicles the iTrack technology is deployed on over a 10-year period.

The initial quarterly royalty, based on the off the road vehicles already using the iTrack system will be about £150,000.

At the end of those 10 years Bridgestone will have the option of buying the iTrack technology for a nominal sum.

ATMS, the entity Bridgestone has created to take the Transense licence, will employ all Transense staff previously engaged with the iTrack business.

That includes Transense CEO David Ford and global sales director Graham Story. Both have resigned as Transense directors.

Transense executive chairman Nigel Rogers also become CEO of Transense and will be made a non-executive director of ATMS in his capacity as the Transense representative.

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