Access Integrated Technologies' Subsidiary, Christie/AIX, Receives Commitment for 7-Year, $217 Million Senior Credit Facility F
29 March 2006 - 1:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
- New Facility to Provide Project Funding for On-Going Digital
Cinema Conversion - MORRISTOWN, N.J., March 28
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Access Integrated Technologies, Inc.
("AccessIT") (AMEX:AIX) today announced its subsidiary,
Christie/AIX, has received a commitment from GE Commercial
Finance's Global Media & Communications business for a $217
million senior credit facility. The facility will be used to
provide Christie/AIX and its parent company, AccessIT, financing
for funding future capital equipment outlays contemplated under its
ongoing 4,000-screen digital cinema rollout. The company
anticipates that upon the closing of this new loan facility,
together with AccessIT's approximately $75 million equity
investment, the company will have substantially all of the
necessary capital to fund the previously announced 4,000-screen
digital cinema rollout by Christie/AIX. Christie/AIX has already
contracted to install 2,300 digital cinema systems at Carmike
Cinemas, the nation's third largest movie exhibitor, 67 screens at
Galaxy Theatres and recently completed the rollout of more than 153
screens at two exhibitors, Emagine and UltraStar. AccessIT had
previously funded the installation of the initial 300 systems
through equity capital financings for its subsidiary. Bud Mayo,
chairman and chief executive officer of AccessIT, commented: "One
of the key elements in our Christie/AIX deployment plan was the
creation of a business model that would provide third party
financing sources with the opportunity to participate in the
wide-spread adoption of digital cinema. With this commitment in
place from GE, one of the pre-eminent lenders to the entertainment
industry, the steadily increasing and predictable cash flows
generated by virtual print fees we expect will enable us to
flexibly fulfill our rollout commitments while reducing our
reliance on equity financing." "GE continues to be committed to
serving the entertainment industry, and we are excited to broaden
that commitment by providing Christie/AIX with a flexible funding
solution that will allow it to continue its leading role in
enabling the industry to make its critical and long anticipated
transition to digital," said Ralph Willis, a managing director of
GE Commercial Finance. The commitment by GE is subject to certain
closing conditions, including the execution of a loan agreement
satisfactory to GE and Christie/AIX. AccessIT's Christie/AIX unit
serves as the funding vehicle and administrator for the company's
4,000-screen digital cinema rollout plan, which has expanded
significantly from the number of screens originally announced in
June 2005. Christie/AIX will act as the administrator and financing
intermediary between content-owners -- major studios and
independent distributors, among others -- and exhibitors who will
receive turnkey, Digital Cinema systems in conformance with DCI
specifications, including 2K DLP Cinema(R) projectors and related
hardware and software. To date, Christie/AIX has been contracted to
install more than 2,500 systems in thirty-nine states and has
completed the rollout of close to 180 screens for exhibitors
including Emagine, UltraStar, Galaxy and Carmike Cinemas. Access
Integrated Technologies, Inc. (AccessIT) is the industry leader in
offering a fully managed storage and electronic delivery service
for owners and distributors of digital content to movie theaters
and other venues. Its studio-backed 4,000 screen ongoing deployment
of digital systems is the first and the largest of its kind in the
world. Supported by a robust platform of fail-safe Internet data
centers, AccessIT is able to leverage the market- leading role of
its Theatrical Distribution System (TDS) with its innovative
digital delivery capabilities and in-theatre software systems to
provide the highest level of technology available to enable the
emerging Digital Cinema industry to transition from film without
changing workflows. For more information on AccessIT, visit
http://www.accessitx.com/. GE Commercial Finance - Global Media
& Communications represents a one- stop source for the
comprehensive range of GE's lending and other structured financial
services offered to the telecom, media, technology and sports &
entertainment marketplace. Global Media & Communications has
over $5 billion in assets, offices in Atlanta, Chicago, London, New
York, Norwalk, San Francisco and resources in Asia-Pacific. For
more information, please visit http://gegmc.com/. This press
release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation
of an offer to buy securities, nor shall there be any sale of
securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer,
solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or
qualification under the securities laws of any such state or
jurisdiction. Safe Harbor Statement Investors and readers are
cautioned that certain statements contained in this document, as
well as some statements in periodic press releases and some oral
statements of AccessIT officials during presentations about
AccessIT, along with AccessIT's filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, including AccessIT 's registration statements,
quarterly reports on Form 10- QSB and annual report on Form 10-KSB,
are "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the "Act").
Forward-looking statements include statements that are predictive
in nature, which depend upon or refer to future events or
conditions, which include words such as "expects", "anticipates",
"intends", "plans", "could", "might", "believes", "seeks",
"estimates" or similar expressions. In addition, any statements
concerning future financial performance (including future revenues,
earnings or growth rates), ongoing business strategies or
prospects, and possible future actions, which may be provided by
AccessIT's management, are also forward-looking statements as
defined by the Act. Forward-looking statements are based on current
expectations and projections about future events and are subject to
various risks, uncertainties and assumptions about AccessIT, its
technology, economic and market factors and the industries in which
AccessIT does business, among other things. These statements are
not guarantees of future performance and AccessIT undertakes no
specific obligation or intention to update these statements after
the date of this release. DLP Cinema(R) is a registered trademark
of Texas Instruments Inc. Contact: Suzanne Tregenza Moore AccessIT
55 Madison Avenue Suite 300 Morristown, NJ 07960
http://www.accessitx.com/ Michael Glickman The Dilenschneider Group
212.922.0900 Ned Reynolds GE Commercial Finance 203.229.5717
DATASOURCE: Access Integrated Technologies, Inc. CONTACT: Michael
Glickman, The Dilenschneider Group, +1-212-922-0900; or Ned
Reynolds, GE Commercial Finance, +1-203-229-5717 Web site:
http://www.accessitx.com/ http://gegmc.com/
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