Fidelity Medical to change hands again

The ongoing saga of Fidelity Medical continues. The Wayne, NJ,developer of digital spot film devices announced last month thatit has agreed to be acquired by Advent Technologies of Coral Gables,FL, an imaging equipment refurbisher. If completed, the deal willbe the second time Fidelity has changed hands this year.

Fidelity was purchased in April by Chester Holdings Ltd. afterseveral months of financial turmoil in which Fidelity's abilityto continue as a viable entity was in question. Chester intendedto clean up Fidelity's operations and take the company publicagain (SCAN 5/10/95).

Chester met resistance securing private investment for Fidelity,however, leading the company to seek a divestiture of its newlyacquired property. Advent Technologies is a public firm listedon the NASDAQ stock exchange, which should improve Fidelity'sability to access capital, according to George Lombardi, FidelityCFO.

"They were going to raise private funding, but it becamedifficult. It's a very hostile market," Lombardi said. "Wethink that by being with a NASDAQ company we can raise some seriousfunding for both companies."

A merger with Advent will offer synergies that should pay offfor both Fidelity and Advent. Advent's Delta Med subsidiary refurbishesx-ray rooms, and Advent can offer Fidelity's InstaSpot and InstaCinedigital products as options on refurbished rooms, Lombardi said.

Unfortunately, Fidelity continues to suffer fallout from thecomplex structure of the April divestiture, which resulted inthe creation of two firms operating under the name Fidelity Medical.The other Fidelity, which operates in the retail stationery business,issued a press release shortly after the Advent announcement clarifyingthat it is not involved in the deal. That company will changeits name following a shareholders' meeting in September, Lombardisaid.