iBill bought by Penthouse

[Tyler]

This has gotta be good news for iBill's adult clients... :grin:

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Carole Collins
Investor Relations Director
(770) 248-9600

INTERCEPT COMPLETES SALE OF MERCHANT SERVICES DIVISION

Reschedules Conference Call

ATLANTA, GA (March 22, 2004) -- InterCept, Inc. (Nasdaq: ICPT), a
leading
provider of technology products and services for financial
institutions,
announced that it closed today the sale of its merchant services
division,
InterCept Payment Solutions (IPS). The sale was consummated via two
separate transactions – one for the sale of Internet Billing Company,
LLC
(iBill) and another for the sale of the remainder of the IPS business.
The
total sale price for both transactions was $53.5 million, which is
$16.1
million more than the sale price stated in a letter of intent for the
sale
of IPS announced in February.

Media Billing, L.L.C., a 99%-owned subsidiary of Penthouse
International, Inc., has purchased all of the outstanding member
interests
of iBill for $0.7 million in cash, a $0.8 million short-term note, and
assumption of a $22.0 million working capital deficit.

Pay By Touch, a privately held provider of biometric authentication
and
payment solutions, purchased the remainder of the IPS business,
including
InterCept’s wholly-owned subsidiary, InterCept Payment Solutions,
Inc., and
InterCept’s merchant portfolio management business based in
Tennessee. The
sale price for that transaction was $30.5 million, composed of: $12.0
million cash; a $15.5 million note due in 180 days that is guaranteed
by
three Pay By Touch stockholders (the note will be discounted by $3.0
million
to $9.5 million if Pay By Touch makes a $3.0 million prepayment in 60
days);
a one year $2.5 million note that is convertible into Pay By Touch
preferred
stock currently valued at $2.5 million at InterCept’s option; and
shares of
Pay By Touch preferred stock currently valued at $500,000.

Both transactions closed on March 22.

[Lee]

You know what Tyler, im not 100% it is good news.

All its going to take is Visa to start getting pissy about an adult company owning a processors and the proverbial could hit the fan so quickly.

I would like to think this is good for the industry though.. its about time an adult company stepped up to the plate

Regards,

Lee

[Lee]

You know what i just realized...

Penthouse filed for a chapter 11 bankruptcy order a few months ago didnt they? Makes you wonder just how financialy viable iBill is going to be now.

Weird if you ask me a company files for bankruptcy then buys a billing processor

Regards,

Lee

[Tyler]

Hi Lee :smiles:
Actually thier story has changed a bit...

Posted on Fri, Feb. 13, 2004
PUBLISHING
Boca financier buys Penthouse magazine

A Boca Raton investor is leading the charge to remake ailing Penthouse into a softer, young men's magazine, akin to Maxim and FHM.

BY CHRISTINA HOAG

choag@herald.com
Boca Raton financier Marc Bell, a former Internet wunderkind turned real estate investor, has found a new pet project: publishing Penthouse magazine.

His plan is to soft-pedal the now bankrupt Penthouse's notoriously X-rated content and relaunch it as a young men's magazine akin to Maxim and FHM.

''We want to realign the magazine and take it to the center,'' he said. ``It's got very hard-core and lost a lot of readership because of that.''

Bell, who heads private equity firm Marc Bell Capital Partners, is leading an investment group that has amassed 89 percent of the magazine's approximately $45 million in bonds.

The group plans to invest up to $50 million to turn around the magazine, whose parent company, General Media of New York, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last August when it could not meet its bond payments.

Last month, a judge approved Bell's reorganization plan for General Media, which also owns several Penthouse spin-off magazines and adult-entertainment businesses. They include subscription Internet sites, video and DVD production and distribution, and licensing of the Penthouse brand on products such as gentlemen's clubs.'

'There's a lot of value there,'' Bell said.

Under Bell's plan, Penthouse's flamboyant but aging publisher, Robert C. Guccione, would continue as publisher emeritus for the next decade.

[Gary-Alan]

Originally posted by Lee
You know what i just realized...

Penthouse filed for a chapter 11 bankruptcy order a few months ago didnt they? Makes you wonder just how financialy viable iBill is going to be now.

Weird if you ask me a company files for bankruptcy then buys a billing processor

Regards,

Lee

Not if they filed for Reorganization. I think it's chapter 13. It's still a bankruptcy proceeding. If memory serves a company in chapter 11 can not buy or sell stocks. A comapny in chapter 13 can proceed as normal, but must file the companies new organization structure to prove ongoing solvency.

GA