ActivCard becomes U.S. company

(Updated Feb. 25, 2003, 4:29 p.m.)

Identity management software provider ActivCard has completed its transition from being a French company to a U.S. one, a move done in part to better serve the U.S. government, a spokeswoman for the company said.

As part of the transition, the company changed its name from ActivCard S.A. to ActivCard Corp. It is headquartered in Fremont, Calif.

"We feel we can better serve our customers here as a U.S. company," said Megan O'Reilly-Lewis, director of public relations for ActivCard.

ActivCard in September filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to become incorporated in Delaware. In January, the company registered an exchange offer for all ActivCard S.A. shares to be exchanged for ActivCard Corp. shares.

The change in location was done for primarily two reasons, O'Reilly-Lewis said. For one, the move was completed to better serve the U.S. market, a market that is growing for the company. Approximately 65 percent of the company's business is now within the United States, and 57 percent of that is government sales, she said.

Another major reason for the move was that the company wanted to trade under SEC regulations, which are more flexible than the French and Belgium regulations the company formerly traded under, in regard to company actions as such stock buy-backs. She said the company has $248 million in cash that investors would like to see invested.

Founded in 1988, ActivCard makes identity management software for network remote access and enterprise-wide secure sign-on capability as well as for digital identification cards. It has approximately 282 employees. For fiscal 2002, the company reported $41.8 million in sales, compared to $31.2 million in 2001. Net loss for fiscal 2002 was $45.5 million, according to the company.

The company's solution is used as part of the Department of Defense's Defense Manpower Data Center in its Common Access Card effort to issue 4 million smart cards to military personnel. ActivCard's solutions are also used by the Bureau of Land Management and the Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command.