Innovaatio Varustukset, the military development corporation that was last week at the centre of a heated bidding war, has sold to Ishukone for a price of 680 billion ISK. The highest bid exceeded almost everyone’s expectations on the final sale price.

Following an intense bidding war between almost all of the Caldari State MegaCorps, last week only three serious contenders remained: Ishukone, Lai Dai and Nugoeihuvi. After a tense round of final bids from the three corporations, it was revealed that Ishukone was the successful buyer.

“It was natural that it ended up as high as it did,” remarked Sindri Hinrik, head of the Economics department at Science and Trade Institute, and one of the few who accurately predicted the final price. “It is a rarity; a small, independent, driven, and most importantly, successful corporation turning good figures in a period of predominantly poor ones. It was inevitable that it would be the focus of much demand.”

The surprisingly high final price has generated speculation that a company’s ability to turn a profit in a period of widespread recession makes it a hot commodity, regardless of size. The successful bid for the minor independent development company exceeded many analysts’ expectations by roughly 200 billion ISK, representing a substantial increase in value far above most estimates. Others have argued, however, that given the final price, the particular nature of the research being carried out by Innovaatio may have also been an influential factor.

One of the many rumours surrounding the company’s research programmes centres around a particularly valuable cloaking device prototype that allows for warp movement during operation. If these rumours prove true, then the final price surrounding the company’s sale is more easily understandable. In the current market climate, where a pod pilot’s only option for cloaked movement is the highly expensive covert operations device, a second, alternative module would be tremendously popular.

The rumours of the cloaking device are just one of the most well known, and have never been officially confirmed or denied by the company. As the owner of many thousands of patents, and responsible for the successful claims on many hundreds more each year, Innovaatio is no stranger to speculation. The highly-secretive nature of it’s research programmes, coupled with it’s financial successes and key contracts with the Caldari Navy, and now the staggering final sale price of the company as well, these have all been factors that fuel current speculation that Innovaatio is not only capable of a technological breakthrough, but possibly on the verge of one right now.

CEO of Innovaatio Markku Samuli, spoke briefly after the announcement of Ishukone’s successful bid, saying he was “tremendously pleased” with the final sum. Samuli plans to sign the company over officially to Ishukone shortly, at a public ceremony in New Caldari on April 7th, 20:00 Eve time. It is understood that representatives of the other MegaCorps involved in the bidding will be present there as well.

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