Internet Communications Corp had a torrid 1998, but hopes the calendar flipping over will bring about a change in fortunes. In June, a reverse takeover of ICC for $38m was proposed by fellow- Colorado ISP, Rocky Mountain Internet Inc (RMI), through a high- yield debt financing. ICC sued RMI in October for $30m after RMI withdrew from the deal, but RMI hit back, counter-suing for around $175m to recover the amount RMI was trying to raise as a debt offering to finance the ICC acquisition and other projects. All this pushed ICC’s share price down and Nasdaq-Amex threatened to de-list the stock as it did not meet its minimum requirements. As part of its effort to claw itself back from the edge, ICC issued convertible stock to raise $2m from Interwest Group Inc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Anschutz Co, in order to maintain its assets at $2m – one of the three requirements of a Nasdaq-Amex listing. ICC will not comment on the pending suits other than to say that it thinks both sides want to put the issue behind them now. The company had a face-to-face meeting with the stock exchange’s officials on January 15. ICC thought the meeting went very well and it is fairly confident of maintaining its listing and having the specter of the delisting threat removed from its stock. Nasdaq-Amex will give its verdict within 30 days of the meeting, which means it will hear some time this month. Now the company is upping the convertible stock issue to $5m-worth and is holding a special shareholders meeting on February 23 to get their approval. The $2m announced last year is included in this $5m. ICC has already got $2.5m of the offering, and the other half will be placed in escrow for release upon the shareholder approval, which is a Nasdaq requirement. The company says there is no call on the convertible stock, but if its shares trade at more than $10 per share for a contiguous 45 day period, it can convert them at $2.25 per share which, while having the disadvantage of diluting its existing shares, will make it more liquid and get the shares trading, with the chance that they may increase in value. After spiking above $5 shortly after the initial tranche of convertible stock issued at the end of 1998, the stock has slid again and yesterday closed down $0.0625 or 2.1% at $2.9375.
