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Tranax CEO says name has not changed, company not acquired

Despite reports from Tranax in February that it had been acquired by Hantle and had changed its name, the CEO says it was all a miscommunication.

March 30, 2010 by

In February, Tranax Technologies Inc. announced it had changed its name to Hantle USA — a change, the company said, that better represented its products and services in the U.S. market.

Taking on the name of the company's parent — Seoul, Korea-based Hantle Systems Co. Ltd. — made sense, said Tranax' vice president of U.S. sales, Bill Dunn, in Feburary, since the company expected to begin focusing more heavily on complementary payments services and products, such as document scanners and check scanners.

But the name change, according to attorneys for Tranax, was never official. In fact, lead attorney Bob Freitas tells ATMmarketplace.com that Tranax is not owned by Hantle Systems at all, and that there is no relationship between Hantle Systems and the company that acquired Tranax in the fall of 2008, Korea-based Eltna Group.

In an e-mailed statement, Freitas says: "Hantle USA is a separate company that is not a subsidiary of Hantle Systems. Hantle Systems sells ATM modules to Hantle USA . Hantle USA currently intends to focus on marketing and sales of ATM equipment, modules and related products for the retail industry. Hantle Systems is an established Korean company with 18 years of history in research and development of ATM modules for the banking and other industries."

Going forward, however, Freitas says some line-of-business changes will affect Tranax, namely in the retail ATM space. Tranax' focus will no longer be on the retail ATM business. The company, while continuing to sell products that relate to the retail ATM space, officially transitioned out of the retail ATM business Feb. 1, 2010. For existing ATMs in the market sold by Tranax, servicing will be handled by Hantle USA , which also is the U.S. entity pursuing the retail ATM market going forward.

"Tranax regrets recent incorrect statements about the company which resulted from miscommunications between an employee and the upper management of the company," said Won Gee Lee, CEO of Tranax and Eltna, Tranax' owner, in an issued statement. "We apologize to our customers, the media, and the public who received this incorrect information. In fact, Tranax continues as a business, focusing on ATM machines and other related products, including scanners, self-service terminals and other modules for non-retail industries, including the banking industry. Tranax will no longer sell or provide ATM equipment for the retail industry. Tranax has not changed its name and was not acquired by Hantle USA ."

In October 2008, when ATMmarketplace.com reported Tranax' acquisition, former Tranax spokesman Jeffrey Lee told ATMmarketplace.com that Eltna and Hantle Systems were not connected, though they did share a connection with Won Gee Lee. Lee served as CEO of Hantle Systems until 2007, when he sold Hantle and founded Eltna, a privately held holding corporation in Korea. At the time of the 2008 announcement, one industry source told ATMmarketplace.com that profits from the sale of Hantle helped to fund Eltna's acquisition of Tranax, which also in 2006 had invested $2 million in Hantle.