Amtelecom Acquires Communications Business

On March 6, 2003, Amtelecom Income Fund completed approximately $80 million in financings and acquired the local telephone and cable television business of Amtelecom Group Inc. for approximately $61.5 million.

The fund completed its initial public offering of 5,957,500 units for gross proceeds of $59.5 million. The units were offered for sale by a syndicate of underwriters led by National Bank Financial Inc., and including CIBC World Markets Inc., Canaccord Capital Corporation, Dundee Securities Corporation and Sprott Securities Inc. Concurrent with the offering, a subsidiary of the fund put in place $20 million of senior syndicated secured credit facilities led by National Bank of Canada.

The proceeds of the financings were, in part, used by the fund to indirectly fund the approximately $61.5 million purchase of the shares of Amtelecom Inc. and AGI Cablevision Inc. from Amtelecom Group.

Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP acted for the fund, with a team led by John Vettese, and including Alexandra Iliopoulos, Eva Bielny and Patrick Gleeson (securities), Gary Steinhart, Ann Watterworth and Cheryl Silver (corporate), Lorne Saltman (tax), Bruce McNeely and Gordon Dickson (banking) and Anne-Marie Widner (real estate).

Amtelecom Group was represented by J. Peter Spence (corporate), assisted by Tammie Ashton, Lisa Lueske and Karen McKay (corporate) and Ross Hurd (real estate) of Lockyer Spence in London, Ontario and Lorne Abugov (broadcast/telecom regulatory) of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP.

Stikeman Elliott LLP acted for the underwriters, with a team that included Franziska Ruf, Gregory Hogan and Amanda Linett (corporate/securities), Frédéric Harvey and Derek Chiasson (tax), Andrew Elliott (real estate) and Lewis Smith and Etienne Massicotte (banking). The banking syndicate was represented by Ogilvy Renault, with a team led by Michael Matheson and including Sandra Nissan, Adam Walsh and Teresa Tropea.

Lawyer(s)

Lorne H. Saltman Andrew Elliott Frédéric Harvey Gordon G. Dickson Sandra Nissan Peter Spence Anne-Marie Widner Franziska Ruf Lorne H. Abugov Bruce T. McNeely Cheryl Silver Lewis T. Smith John P. Vettese Ann L. Watterworth Amanda Linett Derek Chiasson Etienne Massicotte Michael D. Matheson Alexandra (Alex) Iliopoulos Gary Steinhart Gregory J. Hogan Adam Walsh