News

CAIS off NASDAQ

March 21, 2002

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Common stock for CAIS Internet Inc. (Nasdaq:CAIS), a provider of broadband access and data services to businesses and hotels, is no longer trading on the NASDAQ. Instead, the stock will be traded on the Over The Counter Bulletin Board (OTCBB), according to a company news release. The Company's ticker symbol (CAIS) will remain the same.

The move to the OTCBB follows formal notification from the NASDAQ that the company's common stock would be delisted because it does not currently meet requirements for continued listing on the NASDAQ National Market. To remain on the market, companies must maintain a value of $1 per share. No stock prices were available today for the company on either exchange.

Michael Lee, CAIS president and chief executive officer, said that despite the change in stock fortunes, a recently acquired $19.5 million bridge loan as well as changes made by CAIS's new management team, will help the company.

A previous release by the company announced the bridge loan, led by CII Ventures II LLC, an affiliate of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. Other lenders included CAIS Internet founder Ulysses G. Auger, II and R. Theodore Ammon, a major shareholder in the company. CAIS will use proceeds from this loan to fund the company's operations until it secures permanent equity and debt financing, which it plans to obtain in the fourth quarter of 2001, the release stated.

Lee said, "The year end 2000 accounting adjustment necessary to recognize the over valuation of hotel assets and our depressed stock price, due in part to the general market downturn, was largely the cause of our move to the OTCBB. Nonetheless, key actions, such as reducing our burn rate, increasing our ISP pricing to industry standards, improving our balance sheet, terminating unprofitable business units and raising additional capital, are all critical steps in this process and indicate that we are successfully executing our new national ISP business plan."

CAIS was first warned its stock could be delisted by the NASDAQ in May. That month the company announced it would be changing its name to Ardent Communications and reserved a new NASDAQ symbol, ARDT. In a release issued a few days ago, CAIS announced the name will change if shareholders approve it at its annual meeting at the end of July.

CAIS was not the only company in the kiosk business to have been delisted. In April Objectsoft Corp., (OTCBB:OSFT.OB) manufacturers of the FastTake kiosk, reported that its stock had been delisted from the NASDAQ SmallCap Market. The provider of video entertainment kiosks was exploring a merger with Golden Screens Interactive Technologies Inc., also a maker of interactive kiosks, but on July 9 Objectsoft announced that the deal was off. Its stock was trading today at about one-half cent.

Washington, D.C.-based CAIS Internet Inc. provides always-on, broadband Internet access to its customers through its digital subscriber line service, "HyperDSL," and through T-1, DS-3 and other bandwidth connections in 38 metropolitan areas. The company also provides unstaffed business centers and Internet kiosks to deliver Internet access and content to airports, retail centers and cruise ships.