Citizens Utilities Approves Final Agreement With Hungarian Telephone And Cable Corp.STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 2, 1998--Citizens Utilities (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange : CZN, CZNPr) announced today that it has finalized an agreement with Hungarian Telephone and Cable Hungarian Telephone and Cable Corp. (HTCC) (AMEX:HTC) is a telecommunications company based in Seattle, Washington, USA. It provides a variety of telecommunications services in Hungary through its subsidiaries, Hungarotel Tavkozlesi Rt. and Pantel Tavkozlesi Kft. Corp. (AMEX AMEX See: American Stock Exchange :HTC HTC HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) Component HTC High Tech Computer Corp (Taiwan, China) HTC Hennepin Technical College (Minnesota) HTC High-Throughput Computing ) to settle the dispute regarding the future of its management services agreement with HTC and Citizens' preemptive rights The privilege of a stockholder to maintain a proportionate share of the ownership of a corporation by purchasing a proportionate share of any new stock issues. In most jurisdictions, an existing stockholder has the right to buy additional shares of a new issue to preserve with respect to HTC common stock. The settlement provides for the issuance by Hungarian Telephone to Citizens of 100,000 shares of HTC common stock and an $8.4 million note maturing in 2004 for the settlement of previously provided management services. The current management services agreement will be terminated. Hungarian Telephone has entered into a consulting services agreement with Citizens and will pay a combined termination fee termination fee The one-time charge for terminating or transferring an individual retirement account. If a financial institution charges a termination fee, the fee must be spelled out in the original agreement that is signed when the account is opened. and consulting retainer A contract between attorney and client specifying the nature of the services to be rendered and the cost of the services. Retainer also denotes the fee that the client pays when employing an attorney to act on her behalf. to Citizens in the aggregate amount of $21 million in equal installments beginning in 2004 and continuing through 2010. The agreement further provides that Citizens will have a 30-day preemptive right to purchase for cash the number of shares of HTC common stock necessary to maintain Citizens' existing 58.9% ownership interest on a fully-diluted basis. Citizens will also keep its existing options and warrant to purchase HTC common stock. Citizens Utilities provides communications services and public services Public services is a term usually used to mean services provided by government to its citizens, either directly (through the public sector) or by financing private provision of services. including gas distribution, electric distribution, water distribution and wastewater treatment services to approximately 1.8 million customers in 21 states. Citizens owns 83% of Electric Lightwave, Inc. (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :ELIX), a leading full-service, facilities-based competitive local exchange carrier and has a significant investment in Centennial Cellular Corp. (NASDAQ:CYCL), a cellular telephone company. Hungarian Telephone and Cable Corp. is a provider of basic telephone services in five defined operating regions of the Republic of Hungary. The company operates through four Hungarian subsidiaries that have been granted 25-year telecommunications concessions by the Hungarian government. These concessions are exclusive through 2002. This news release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the statements. These and all forward-looking statements are only predictions or statements of current plans that are constantly under review by the company. All forward-looking statements may differ from actual results because of, but not limited to, changes in the local and overall economy, the nature and pace of technological changes, the number and effectiveness of competitors in the company's markets, success in overall strategy, weather conditions, changes in legal or regulatory policy, the company's ability to identify future markets and successfully expand existing ones and the mix of products and services offered in the company's target markets. These important factors should be considered in evaluating any statement contained herein and/or made by the company or on its behalf. The foregoing information should be read in conjunction with the company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission including, but not limited to, reports on Forms 10K and 10Q. The company has no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements to reflect the occurrence of future events or circumstances. |
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