Corporate | 16 March 2006 10:26

ecotel communication ag: IPO of ecotel communication ag

Corporate-news transmitted by DGAP – a company of EquityStory AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. —————————————————————————— IPO of ecotel communication ag Bookbuilding range for the ecotel shares: EUR 14 to 17 Offering period: March 17-24, 2006 First trading day: presumably March 29, 2006 Capital increase by up to EUR 935,000 Freefloat after IPO some 30 percent Duesseldorf, March 16, 2006 – Network-independent telecommunications company ecotel communication ag plans to list on the FWB Frankfurt Stock Exchange as of March 29, 2006. The bookbuilding range has been set at EUR 14 to 17. Investors can subscribe to the shares in the period March 17-24, 2006. The bank accompanying the flotation is Baader Wertpapierhandelsbank AG. The IPO of ecotel communication ag is entering the decisive phase. From March 17-24, 2006 ecotel is offering institutional and private investors a total of up to 1,055,000 bearer ordinary shares without a nominal value, with a bookbuilding range of EUR 14 to 17. The median value for the bookbuilding range would result in an issue volume of around EUR 16.4 million. The offer involves up to 935,000 bearer ordinary shares without a nominal value from a capital increase. In addition, the company can opt for a greenshoe of up to 120,000 bearer ordinary shares without a par value from the stocks owned by existing shareholders. The scheduled capitalization measure would raise the Company’s capital stock from EUR 2,565,000 to EUR 3,500,000. If the greenshoe is completely used up, then a total of 30.1% of the share capital would be in free float. Peter Zils, CEO and co-founder of ecotel communication ag, is gratified by the favorable response among investors during the preparatory phase: “ecotel is a growth company with solid foundations. The telecommunications market is again in the process of upheaval. Thanks to our flexible business model, we intend to profit from this to an above-average extent. When assessing our future growth opportunities, it is thus especially important for prospective investors to consider that in the past we have already made key investments from own funds and achieved enduring growth in this way.“ By going public, ecotel communication ag intends to significantly up the pace of expansion and further extend its market position – in terms of sales it has since 2001 grown on average 48 percent. The plan is specifically to strengthen above all, its fast-growing “Re-Seller Solutions” division, in which ecotel has posted average monthly sales growth of 38 percent in the months September 2005 through January 2006, in the form of expanded modular platforms suitable for resellers. In this division ecotel brings together its services for other telcos and for non-branch distributors as well as its Wholesale activities. Moreover, its existing core business of “Solutions for Business Clients” is set to grow further through bundling of services and the stronger marketing of Internet telephony solution offerings (VoIP) and other IP services. “With the proceeds from the IPO we will finance the additional working capital we need in the framework of our growth going forward and we will likewise use the financial resources for investments in our own systems and connection technology. Moreover, we wish to carefully exploit opportunities for acquisitions as they arise,” says Zils. The ecotel shares are scheduled to be listed for trading in the open market for the first time on March 29, 2006 under the exchange code in the Entry Standard segment of FWB, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The ISIN international security identification number for ecotel communication ag will be DE0005854343, the WKN German security identification number 585434. Ecotel will go public in the Entry Standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The ecotel communication ag goal: after switching its accounting over from HGB to the international IFRS accounting standards it will move into the Prime Standard segment. “We felt it important to go public in the first half of 2006, as this enables us to benefit from the current buoyant mood in the stock market and also in order to be able to fully exploit our growth potential at an early date. The time factor plays a key role in the current renewed upheaval we are seeing in the telecommunications market,” is how CEO Peter Zils explains the IPO in the Entry Standard segment. “Our plan is that before the year is out we will meet all the necessary requirements for the switch to the Prime Standard segment. Thus we are today already taking our cue from the high transparency standards associated with the latter segment.“ The IPO of Börsengang der ecotel communication ag is being supported by Baader Wertpapierhandelsbank AG. As of the end of March with the scheduled beginning of trading, HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt will act as Designated Sponsor. About ecotel: ecotel is a network-independent telecoms provider founded in 1998, immediately after liberalization of the teclo market. In what has to date been its core division, “Solutions for Business Clients“, the company provides voice, data and value-added services to small and medium-sized enterprises in particular, as well as direct connections for voice and data traffic from a single source. Nationwide, more than 25,000 corporate clients now make use of ecotel’s standardized and customized telecom solutions. ecotel has brought its products and services for telecoms corporation and non-branch promoters as well as Wholesale services together in its rapidly growing second division of “Re-Seller Solutions”. Systems developed in-house and modern connecting technology constitutes the interface between the two divisions and thus enables bundling of services and telecommunications solutions on the basis of new technological standards at favorable rates, e.g., IP services incl. VoIP (Internet telephony). ecotel communication ag is headquartered in Düsseldorf. In early 2006, a second hub was opened in Munich. At present, the company has a payroll of some 100 staff. In 2005, the telecoms provider placed no. 8 in the Deloitte “Technology Fast 50” competition. In other words, it is among the Top 10 fastest-growing technology companies in Germany. For further information, please contact: ecotel communication ag Annette Drescher (Assistant to the Board of Directors) Tel.: + 49 211-55 007-740 Fax: + 49 211-55 007 5 740 E-mail: presse@ecotel.de For further information please visit www.ecotel.de. Please note: This publication does not constitute an offer for the sale of shares in the company or a solicitation of an offer for the purchase of shares in the company. Such offer is exclusively be made through and on the basis of a securities prospectus which has been published by the company as part of the offering and has been made available on the web site of the company under www.ecotel.de. A printed version has been made available free of charge by Baader Wertpapierhandelsbank AG, Weihenstephaner Str. 4, 85716 Unterschleissheim or ecotel communication ag, Prinzenallee 9–11, 40549 Düsseldorf. This document must not be distributed outside of Germany, in particular not in the United States of America, to “U.S. persons” as defined under the Securities Act of 1933, or to publications with a general circulation in the United States. Each violation of such limitations may constitute a violation of applicable securities laws (c)DGAP 16.03.2006 ————————————————————————— language: English emitter: ecotel communication ag Prinzenallee 9-11 40549 Düsseldorf Deutschland phone: +49 (0) 55 00 7300 fax: +49 (0) 55 00 75300 email: achim.theis@ecotel.de WWW: www.ecotel.de ISIN: DE0005854343 WKN: 585434 indexes: End of News DGAP News-Service ——————————————————————