Message #20 From:
Stock News Bot Date: July 18, 2005 06:35:45 AM
IBAS News iBasis Eliminates All of its Secured Bond Debt; $19.9 Million of Secured Notes Convert to Equity
iBasis Eliminates All of its Secured Bond Debt; $19.9 Million of Secured Notes Convert to Equity
iBasis, Inc. (OTCBB: IBAS), a leader in international long distance, VoIP, and prepaid calling cards, today announced that $19.9 million of the Company's debt has converted to equity through negotiated agreements with noteholders. Overall, the notes have converted into approximately 10.8 million shares of iBasis common stock at the original conversion price of $1.85 per share.
The negotiated conversions consist of $19.9 million of the Company's 8% Secured Convertible Notes due 2007. The Company paid premiums to encourage early conversion in the amount of $1.2 million in cash, which will be charged to results of operations in Q3 2005. The overall reduction in the company's debt will result in total annual savings on future interest payments of approximately $1.6 million, and adds approximately $19.9 million in stockholder equity, excluding premiums and transaction costs.
"After years of carrying a high level of debt that weighed heavily on our business, we have achieved a major milestone in eliminating all of our secured bond debt," said Ofer Gneezy, president and CEO of iBasis. "In addition, our remaining long term debt, now $33 million, is convertible at $1.85 and is not due until 2009."
About iBasis
Founded in 1996, iBasis (OTCBB: IBAS) is a leading wholesale carrier of international long distance telephone calls and a provider of retail prepaid calling services, including the Pingo(TM) web-based offering (www.pingo.com) and disposable calling cards, which are sold through major distributors and available at retail stores throughout the U.S. iBasis customers include many of the largest telecommunications carriers in the world, including AT&T, Cable & Wireless, China Mobile, China Unicom, MCI, Sprint, Skype, and Telefonica. iBasis carried approximately 5 billion minutes of international voice over IP (VoIP) traffic in 2004, and is one of the ten largest carriers of international voice traffic in the world(1). For four consecutive years service providers named iBasis the best international wholesale carrier in ATLANTIC-ACM's annual International Wholesale Carrier Report Card(2). iBasis was also ranked among the fastest-growing technology companies in New England in the 2002, 2003, and 2004 Technology Fast 50 programs sponsored by Deloitte & Touche. The Company can be reached at its worldwide headquarters in Burlington, Massachusetts, USA at 781-505-7500 or on the Internet at www.ibasis.com.
iBasis is a registered mark and Pingo is a trademark of iBasis, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Except for historical information, all of the expectations, projections and assumptions contained in the foregoing press release, including those relating to the company's current expectations regarding revenue growth, sources of revenue, margin improvement and future capital expenditures constitute forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and involve risks and uncertainties. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, (i) the extent of adoption of the company's services and the timing and amount of revenue generated by these services; (ii) fluctuations in the market for and pricing of these services; and (iii) the other considerations described as "Risk Factors" in iBasis' most recent Forms 10-K and 10-Q, and the company's other SEC filings. We have no current intention to update any forward-looking statements.
(1)Telegeography 2005 data compared with iBasis 2004 traffic volume.
(2)ATLANTIC-ACM International Wholesale Carrier Report Card - 2002, 2003, 2004, & 2005.
iBasis, Inc.
Media:
Chris Ward, 781-505-7557
cward@ibasis.net
or
Investors:
Richard Tennant, 781-505-7409
ir@ibasis.net
