SE SYMBOL: GRM E-comm purchase, waiting for approval (let of int)
TORONTO, June 11 /CNW/ - Gran Colombia Resources Inc. today announced that it will be
entering the E-commerce market through the purchase of Sacramento-based Wavve
Telecommunications Inc. (''WTI''). WTI is a facilities-based provider of high performance,
managed data and voice networking services providing physical and virtual hosting to E-commerce
operations, commercial and industrial businesses and Internet Service Providers with mission critical
Internet operations.
WTI's management has almost 50 years' combined experience in telecommunications management,
engineering and operations. The team, led by Mr. Robert Ingraham, was previously together at both
Brooks Fiber Properties and Worldcom-MCI. While with Worldcom, the team had the unique
distinction of having had operational control of Worldcom's Metropolitan Area Exchanges (MAE),
through which approximately 75% of the world's Internet traffic traveled. At Brooks Fiber, the team
had responsibility for the development and implementation of over 20% of their national Internet
backbone. WTI's President and significant shareholder is Mr. Ingraham, who will be made Chief
Operating Officer of Gran Colombia once the transaction is completed.
Under the letter of intent signed with WTI, Gran Colombia will purchase 100% of the issued and
outstanding shares of WTI in exchange for which Gran Colombia will issue 25% of its shares to
WTI's shareholders. The percentage of shares issued to WTI's shareholders will eventually increase
to 40%, subject to WTI achieving certain defined performance objectives over time. Initially, WTI
shall have the right to nominate one director to the board of Gran Colombia, which will eventually
increase to two. Gran Colombia ultimately plans to attract to its board outside directors with
significant industry experience. The transaction remains subject to regulatory and shareholder
approval and the execution of a definitive purchase agreement.
WTI believes that E-commerce will flourish among medium-sized businesses, but that these
businesses will have to outsource the location of their E-commerce facilities. WTI was formed to
take advantage of a growing and under-serviced demand that exists for managed data and voice
networking services in ''Tier Two'' cities in North America and Europe. Tier Two cities are
metropolitan areas that generally have populations under two million but which still have a significant
concentration of business and industry. WTI will provide these services through the establishment of
co-location centres in these cities. The Tier Two cities will be chosen not only on the basis of
business opportunity, but also with a view to establishing a continent-wide network. The first four
metropolitan areas that WTI will be targeting are Sacramento and Orange County in California, Salt
Lake City, Utah, and Portland, Oregon.
WTI's mission is to provide tailored solutions for its customers based on their unique business and
technical requirements, which services can be modified as customers' needs evolve. The services are
delivered from geographically distributed, state of the art Internet co-location facilities and provide
server co-location, Internet connectivity, collaborative management and Internet technology
services. The server co-location and Internet connectivity services provide the foundation for high
performance, availability, scalability and reliability of customers' Internet operations, while WTI's
collaborative management services enable WTI and its customers to manage the customers' Internet
operations continuously and proactively.
The ramp-up period for WTI's business is expected to take approximately twelve months, with the
current business plan projecting that in the second year of operations the company will generate
sufficient profits to sustain its own growth.
Gran Colombia is extremely excited with its proposed acquisition of WTI, which will provide the
Company with an important foothold in the large US E-commerce-market by providing high-end,
value-added vertical services on top of the essential Internet facilities upon which businesses are
becoming more reliant every day. |
