WISeKey Completes Sale of QuoVadis SSL/TLS, PKI Businesses to DigiCert for $45 Million

WISeKey Completes Sale of QuoVadis SSL/TLS, PKI Businesses to DigiCert for $45 Million

ZUG, Switzerland – January 17, 2018 – WISeKey International Holding Ltd (SIX: WIHN), a leading Swiss cybersecurity and IoT company, announced today that is has completed the sale of QuoVadis TLS/SSL, PKI businesses to DigiCert, the leading global provider of TLS/SSL, IoT and other PKI solutions, for US$45 million cash.



WISeKey has retained ownership of the ISTANA Platform used to secure, among other things, the connected car industry, as part of its offerings for the Internet of Things (IoT) market, together with its latest Blockchain technology.

WISeKey has used part of the US$45 million cash proceeds from the sale of the QuoVadis SSL/TLS PKI businesses to repay in full its debt to ExWorks Capital (approximately $26 million); WISeKey further intends to finance the growth of its core IoT business, expand the WISeCoin and WISephone Blockchain portfolio, and further reinforce its position as a major player offering secured and trusted Blockchain architectures.



WISeKey and DigiCert also plan to enter into a partnership agreement to explore common opportunities in the IoT market, using their combined products to enhance mutual offerings.

DigiCert will continue to operate QuoVadis as a Trusted Services Provider in the European Union and Switzerland, specializing in Qualified digital certificates and related services for Europe, as well as enterprise managed PKI services. The acquisition aligns with DigiCert’s vision of providing the world’s most globally dispersed and robust PKI-based solutions combined with local support and expertise.

Additional QuoVadis datacenter assets remain subject to approval of the Regulatory Authority of Bermuda and are expected to transfer to DigiCert in the near future. Meantime, WISeKey will provide transition services to DigiCert for those assets.

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. served as the exclusive financial advisor to WISeKey and Homburger AG as lead legal counsel to WISeKey.

About DigiCert

DigiCert is the world’s leading provider of scalable TLS/SSL, PKI solutions for identity and encryption. The most innovative companies, including 89 percent of Fortune 500 companies and 97 out of the 100 top global banks, choose DigiCert for its expertise in identity and encryption for web servers and Internet of Things devices. DigiCert supports TLS/SSL and other digital certificates for PKI deployments at any scale through its certificate lifecycle management platform, CertCentral®. The company is recognized for its enterprise-grade certificate management platform, fast and knowledgeable customer support, and market-leading security solutions. For the latest DigiCert news and updates, visit digicert.com or follow @digicert.



About WISeKey 

WISeKey (SIX Swiss Exchange: WIHN) is a leading global cybersecurity company currently deploying large scale digital identity ecosystems for people and objects using Blockchain, AI and IoT respecting the Human as the Fulcrum of the Internet. WISeKey Semiconductors secure the pervasive computing shaping today’s Internet of Everything. WISeKey has an installed base of over 1 billion microchips in virtually all IoT sectors (connected cars, smart cities, drones, agricultural sensors, anti-counterfeiting, smart lighting, servers, computers, mobile phones, crypto tokens etc.).  WISeKey is uniquely positioned to be at the edge of IoT as our semiconductors secure a huge amount of Big Data that, when analyzed with Artificial Intelligence (AI), can help industrial applications to predict the failure of their equipment before it happens.

Our technology, trusted by the OISTE/WISeKey’s Swiss based cryptographic Root of Trust (“RoT”) provides secure authentication and identification, in both physical and virtual environments, for the Internet of Things, Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence. The WISeKey RoT serves as a common trust anchor to ensure the integrity of online transactions among objects and between objects and people. For more information, visit www.wisekey.com.

Disclaimer:

This communication expressly or implicitly contains certain forward-looking statements concerning WISeKey International Holding Ltd and its business. Such statements involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of WISeKey International Holding Ltd to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. WISeKey International Holding Ltd is providing this communication as of this date and does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.



This press release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities, and it does not constitute an offering prospectus within the meaning of article 652a or article 1156 of the Swiss Code of Obligations or a listing prospectus within the meaning of the listing rules of the SIX Swiss Exchange. Investors must rely on their own evaluation of WISeKey and its securities, including the merits and risks involved. Nothing contained herein is, or shall be relied on as, a promise or representation as to the future performance of WISeKey.