McLeodUSA Completes Sale of ICTC and Related Businesses.Business Editors CEDAR RAPIDS Cedar Rapids, city (1990 pop. 108,751), seat of Linn co., E central Iowa, on the Cedar River; inc. as a city 1856. The second largest city in Iowa, it is named for the surging rapids in the river. , Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 31, 2002 McLeodUSA Incorporated (Nasdaq:MCLD MCLD Milestone Control Log Document ), one of the nation's largest independent competitive local exchange carriers, today announced that the Company has completed the sale of Illinois Consolidated Telephone Company ("ICTC ICTC Indiana County Technology Center (Indiana, Pennsylvania) ICTC Isabella County Transportation Commission (Michigan) ICTC International Cities, Town Centres and Communities (Australia) ") and certain related telecommunications businesses to Homebase Acquisition Corp. ("Homebase") for $271.2 million. The sale was announced on July 17, 2002. McLeodUSA has also entered into a series of operating agreements with Homebase and ICTC pursuant to which the parties will continue to provide value-added commercial services to each other in the future. These services include wholesale long-distance, telemarketing and fulfillment, and operator-assistance services, among others. Homebase Acquisition Corp. is a newly formed company financed by Spectrum Equity Investors, Providence Equity and Richard A. Lumpkin, Chairman, President and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of ICTC. This sale completes the asset sales committed as part of the Company's recapitalization Recapitalization Restructuring a company's debt and equity mixture often with the aim of making a company's capital structure more stable. Notes: Companies often want to diversify their debt-to-equity ratio to improve liquidity. plan. The Company has also completed the sale of essentially all other non-core assets, which were identified as part of the Company's strategy to focus on its 25-state footprint, announced in 4Q01. Total funds of approximately $1.1 billion received from all sale transactions are expected to exceed the Company's plan by approximately $100 million and be accomplished nine months ahead of schedule. Pursuant to the terms of its comprehensive Recapitalization completed on April 16, 2002, $225 million of the net proceeds Net Proceeds The amount received after all costs are deducted from the sale of a piece of property or security. Notes: In the case of an investor selling a security, net proceeds represent the proceeds from the sale minus any trading costs (i.e. commissions). from this transaction have been used to reduce the Term A and Term B loans under the Company's May 2000 Credit Agreement as amended. Inclusive of inclusive of prep. Taking into consideration or account; including. the repayment of $20 million of ICTC mortgage bonds, this transaction reduced McLeodUSA's bank and bond debt from $960 million to $715 million. The balance of the proceeds from the transaction after fees and expenses is being retained by the Company. About McLeodUSA McLeodUSA provides integrated communications services, including local services, in 25 Midwest, Southwest, Northwest and Rocky Mountain states Rocky Mountain States A region of the western United States including Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming. . The Company is a facilities-based telecommunications provider with, as of September 30, 2002, 38 ATM switches, 53 voice switches, 513 collocations, 482 DSLAMs and 4,480 employees. As of April 16, 2002, Forstmann Little & Co. became a 58% shareholder in the Company. Visit the Company's Web site at www.mcleodusa.com. Some of the statements in this press release include statements about our future expectations. Statements that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" for the purpose of the safe harbor Safe Harbor 1. A legal provision to reduce or eliminate liability as long as good faith is demonstrated. 2. A form of shark repellent implemented by a target company acquiring a business that is so poorly regulated that the target itself is less attractive. provided by Section 21E of the Exchange Act and Section 27A of the Securities Act. Such statements include projections of financial and operational results and goals, including closing of sales of businesses, revenue, EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) A metric used to show a company's profitability, but not its cash flow. EBITDA became popular in the 1980s to show the potential profitability of leveraged buyouts, but has become , profitability, savings and cash. These forward-looking statements are subject to known as well as unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations. Our expectations are based on various factors and assumptions and reflect only our predictions. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statement include technological, regulatory, public policy or other developments in our industry, availability and adequacy of capital resources, current and future economic conditions, the existence of strategic alliances, our ability to generate cash, our ability to implement process and network improvements, our ability to attract and retain customers, our ability to migrate traffic to appropriate platforms, our ability to close on sales of businesses and changes in the competitive climate in which we operate. These and other risks are described in more detail in our most recent Annual Report on the Form 10K and Form 10K/A K/A Knowledge and Abilities both filed with the SEC. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of future events, new information or otherwise. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion