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AT&T Canada
Successfully Completes Restructuring Process
and Begins Trading on TSX and NASDAQ
Revitalized Company Moves Forward with Strategy Focused
on Profitable Growth
New Board of Directors in Place
Purdy Crawford, Chairman of the Board said, "We are pleased to have successfully completed our restructuring. AT&T Canada is now positioned to grow profitably as a highly competitive leader in the Canadian telecom marketplace.
"Our successful restructuring is the result of the wisdom and dedication of all those involved in our negotiations, including our officers, bondholders and their advisors, and would not have been possible without the strong commitment of all our employees and the continued support of our customers and suppliers. Therefore, on behalf of management and the Board, I would like to thank all parties for their role in reaching this milestone for AT&T Canada."
"In just five and a half months, we successfully restructured CDN $4.7 billion in debt while maintaining our revenues and customer base," said John McLennan, Vice Chairman & CEO. "We are a leading competitor in every major market across Canada and are confident about our ongoing competitive strengths given the important improvements we have made in our customer satisfaction levels over the past year."
AT&T Canada also announced that its Class A Voting Shares and Class B Limited Voting Shares began trading today on both the Toronto Stock Exchange and NASDAQ Market System.
"We are tremendously excited about our prospects as a revitalized and financially sound public company," said Mr. McLennan. "Going forward, we are committed to building the value of this enterprise for our new shareholders which will yield benefits for all of our stakeholders. We are well-positioned to achieve this goal given our modern technology platform, advanced services and solutions, extensive national reach, deep customer relationships with Canada's leading blue chip companies -- and now, our solid financial foundation."
AT&T Canada also outlined several objectives as part of its strategic outlook, including generating profitable growth, strengthening its competitive advantages, and promoting its capital efficient business model.
"We are committed to building on our momentum and expanding upon our existing capabilities," said John A. MacDonald, President & COO. "Specifically, we plan to:
- Grow our sizeable list of loyal and blue chip private and public
sector customers;
- Focus on customer service excellence, responsiveness, and agility;
- Target the large and medium sized customer business segments;
- Offer data and Internet products and services with the fastest
projected growth rates as part of our customized business solutions;
- Continue working with AT&T Corp. when it is in our customers' best
interest to do so, and at the same time, expand our global reach by
partnering with new international suppliers; and
- Launch a new brand identity by September 2003."
The Company will pursue these strategic objectives under the leadership provided by its highly experienced management team and with the full support and guidance of its new Board of Directors, which assumed office today. As previously announced, seven experienced and highly regarded business leaders are joining Messrs. Crawford and McLennan on the Board, namely: Gerald E. Beasley, William A. Etherington, Deryk I. King, Ian D. Mansfield, Ian M. McKinnon, Jane Mowat, and Daniel F. Sullivan. (Note: Biographical information on the directors can be found on AT&T Canada's website.)
About AT&T Canada:
AT&T Canada is the country's largest competitor to the incumbent telecom companies. With over 18,700 route kilometers of local and long haul broadband fiber optic network, world class managed service offerings in data, Internet, voice and IT Services, AT&T Canada provides a full range of integrated communications products and services to help Canadian businesses communicate locally, nationally and globally. AT&T Canada is a publicly traded company on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ Market System. Please visit AT&T Canada's web site, www.attcanada.com, for more information about the Company.
Note for Investors:
This news release includes statements about expected future events and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties. For those statements, we claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements provisions contained in the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company cautions that actual performance will be affected by a number of factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control, and that future events and results may vary substantially from what the Company currently foresees. Discussion of the various factors that may affect future results is contained in the Company's recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Ontario Securities Commission, and SEDAR.