Press Release
November 1, 2000
COLUMBUS, OH -- RFC Capital Corporation has increased its financing commitment to Essex Communications, Inc., a
Connecticut-based competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC), announced Mark D. Quinlan, RFC President. Essex, which
does business under the name of eLEC Communications, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of eLEC Communications Corp.
(NASDAQ:ELEC), a full service telecommunications company headquartered in Norwalk, CT. RFC is a specialty finance
company that provides working capital to high-growth and technology-driven companies in such industries as telecom,
Internet, e-commerce and deregulated energy marketing.
RFC began its relationship with eLEC in March 1999, with a $500,000 Receivables Sale Agreement. Under the new agreement,
Essex has a $5 million Revolving Enterprise Value Loan, which can be increased to $10 million. This facility will
provide additional capital to fund the company's continued growth under the Unbundled Network Elements Platform
(UNE-P), an alternative to the time consuming and expensive network build-out model proposed by other CLECs. ``The
array of services available to the end customer and the profitability of operating under UNE-P make it an attractive
platform for companies like eLEC,'' said Mr. Quinlan. ``In our view, UNE-P is a compelling choice for growing CLECs.''
``This facility gives us the capital we need to expand our marketing programs,'' said eLEC CEO Paul Riss. ``Earlier
this month, we purchased Line One, to manage our outside telemarketing firms and to operate as our in-house telemarketer
and web marketing engine. The combination of RFC's funding along with our holdings of marketable securities gives
eLEC the right capital mix to enable the Company to execute its business plan,'' continued Mr. Riss.
RFC Capital Corporation
eLEC Communications Corp. is a publicly-traded local telecommunications company that is taking advantage of the
convergence of the current and future competitive technological and regulatory developments in the Internet and
telecommunications markets. eLEC provides an integrated suite of communications services to small and medium-sized
business customers, including local, long distance, dial-up access, dedicated access, xDSL, and Web site design
and hosting. For further information, visit the eLEC website at www.elec.net.
RFC Capital Corporation is a specialized commercial finance company serving the needs of high-growth companies
in technology-driven industries. With a foundation of serving the telecom and Internet marketplace, RFC's focus
also includes other deregulating and converging industries such as energy. Based in Columbus, Ohio, the company
is an established source of working capital and mezzanine funding serving a global marketplace.
RFC Capital Corporation (www.rfccapital.com) is a division of Textron Financial
Corporation. Textron Financial is a diversified commercial finance company with $7.5 billion in managed receivables
and twenty-one years of record earnings. Its market-aligned businesses provide lending and leasing to small and
middle market companies, as well as financial services that include asset management, syndications, portfolio servicing,
and insurance brokerage. Textron Financial also provides specialty finance for the golf and timeshare industries.
Additional information about the company is available at www.tfc.textron.com.
Textron Financial is a subsidiary of Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT), an $11.6 billion, global, multi-industry company
with market-leading businesses in Aircraft, Automotive, Industrial and Finance. Textron has a workforce of over
68,000 employees and major manufacturing facilities in 30 countries. Textron is among Fortune magazine's ``Global
Most Admired Companies.''
This release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. eLEC's actual results may
differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such a
difference include, among others, availability of management; availability, terms and deployment of capital; eLEC's
ability to successfully market its services to current and new customers, generate customer demand for its product
services in the geographical areas in which eLEC can operate, access new markets, negotiate and maintain suitable
interconnection agreements with the incumbent local exchange carriers, and negotiate and maintain suitable vendor
relationships, all in a timely manner, at reasonable cost and on satisfactory terms and conditions, as well as
regulatory, legislative and judicial developments that could cause actual results to vary in such forward-looking
statements.
-------------------------------------------------
Contact:
eLEC Communications Corp.
Hillary Jeffers, (888) 732-3863
hjeffers@rfccapital.com
or
Paul Riss, (203) 229-2403
phriss@elec-corp.com