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Strategies & Market Trends : Mr. Pink's Picks: selected event-driven value investments -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Anthony@Pacific who wrote (12676)	2/2/2000 12:55:00 AM
From: peter michaelson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18998

Tony,that dinner putting a florescent glow in your stomach? hey

To: Anthony@Pacific who wrote (12676)	2/2/2000 9:51:00 AM
From: Mr. Pink	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18998

Good news for GBT. Remember they own majority stake in Highpoint. Highpoint Announces Memorandum of Understanding to Form Joint 2/2/0 9:2 (New York) Venture With Kast Telecom S.A. in Pan-European CLEC Initiative NEWS RELEASE TRANSMITTED BY CANADIAN CORPORATE NEWS FOR: HIGHPOINT TELECOMMUNICATIONS INC. CDNX SYMBOL: HGP FEBRUARY 2, 2000 Highpoint Announces Memorandum of Understanding to Form Joint Venture With Kast Telecom S.A. in Pan-European CLEC Initiative VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--Highpoint Telecommunications Inc. (HGP: CDNX), an affiliate of Global Light Telecommunications Inc. (AMEX: GBT), is pleased to announce that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to form a joint venture with Kast Telecom s.a. to build a pan-European facilities-based competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC). The new venture will aggressively roll out a new network to bring high bandwidth last mile services to small and medium business customers (SME's) in second and third tier cities initially in Southern and Western Europe. Existing local exchange carriers operate within limited geographic boundaries. The few existing pan-European carriers primarily operate within Europe's principal cities. The Highpoint/Kast joint venture will be the first truly pan-European CLEC focused on serving the integrated communications needs of Europe's SME's, and the first to specifically address the secondary city market on a Europe-wide basis. The joint venture will adopt a "smart build" strategy to rapidly build out its network. A combination of ATM, IP, DSL and WLL technologies will be deployed as appropriate to maximize returns on infrastructure investment while ensuring end-to-end quality of service for its customers. The company will offer a comprehensive portfolio of integrated value-added voice, data, and IP services. Under the terms of the MOU, Highpoint will contribute its existing western European service provider, Axxon Holding Company B.V., to the joint venture in exchange for a 40% equity interest in the new company. Kast will contribute its existing southern European operations to the joint venture in exchange for a 60% equity interest in the new company. It is expected that Highpoint's equity interest will increase to 45% over time. The merger of the two existing business units will give the new company a geographic presence spanning France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. It will bring together over 200 experienced staff and a strong management team with comprehensive experience in the European telecommunications industry. The founder and Chairman of Kast Telecom, Mr. Magdi Houry, will be appointed Executive Chairman of the new company and Mr. John Cronin will be appointed Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Cronin, currently a Highpoint employee, was formerly the Group Chief Executive of NetSource Europe a.s.a. and has more than 25 years of experience in the international and domestic telecommunications industry including; senior roles in Teleglobe, Mercury Communications and British Telecom, where he was responsible for the strategic development of metropolitan fiber rings into key commercial centers such as Canary Wharf in London. Ian Watson, Highpoint Chairman, stated: "We are delighted to announce this new business partnership in Europe. With the combination of Axxon's and Kast's existing businesses and the management skills of Magdi Houry and John Cronin, we have a strong foundation upon which to build the first truly pan-European CLEC company to focus on the SME market. The proven experience of Highpoint's senior management in building CLEC businesses in the US market, combined with the in-depth expertise of our local European management team, give us great confidence in this new venture's future success. This is a strong complement to Highpoint's European portfolio of businesses and provides obvious synergies with Vine Telecom's pan-European high bandwidth transport network development." Highpoint is an international telecommunications company with a 50% interest in Vine Telecom Networks Ltd., which is developing a pan-European high-bandwidth fiber optic network, a 51% interest in The North American Gateway, a facilities-based voice and data telecommunications carrier based in Toronto, Ontario, and a 100% interest in Axxon Holding Company B.V., which offers international telephone and value-added telecommunications services in Western Europe. Kast is a French telecommunications company based in Sophia Antipolis near Nice in the south of France with operating companies in Italy and Switzerland. Kast offers national, long distance and international voice, data and a broad range of value added services based upon internet and computer telephony technologies. Kast has embarked upon an aggressive roll out of a full service facilities based infrastructure (CLEC's) in southern Europe. -30- FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Highpoint Telecommunications Inc. Robert Blankstein (604) 609-0100 or 1-888-234-4423 or Highpoint Telecommunications Inc. Ken Berry (604) 609-0100 or 1-888-234-4423 Website: www.hgptelecom.com The Canadian Venture Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents herein. INDUSTRY: CMT SUBJECT: JVN