SANTA MONICA, CA and HOUSTON, TX --May 19, 1999--(PRIMEZONE)-- GlobalNet Financial.com, Inc. (OTCBB: GLBN) an international multimedia provider of on-line financial news and information services to the investment community and Telescan, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSCN) an industry leader in providing Internet services and innovative solutions for online technology and data retrieval tools announced today that each has entered into separate agreements to acquire, in unison, an equity stake in the online brokerage firm, GRO Corporation ("GRO" at www.gro.com). The closing of these transactions is subject to completion of due diligence, documentation and NASD approval.
GlobalNet Financial will acquire 25% of the equity of GRO in exchange for a cash payment of $1 million as well as 666,666 shares of GLBN common stock. Additionally, GlobalNet will have an option for the next three years to increase its equity stake to 49% of GRO's outstanding common shares.
Separately, Telescan will acquire 4.9% of the equity of GRO through the conversion of certain outstanding debt owed to Telescan by a company to be acquired by GRO. In March 1999, Telescan acquired 9.9% of GLBN as a result of a technology license agreement as well as a strategic-share exchange.
GRO, based in Houston, TX, is a NASD-licensed broker/dealer that provides on-line Electronic Direct Access Trading (E-DAT) services to institutional and individual investors. Unlike browser-based online brokers who may be selectively routing order flow to pre-arranged market makers and dealers in return for payment, E-DAT enables investors, from their own PC's, to enter and execute trades directly with stock exchanges, market makers and Electronic Communication Networks ("ECN") through a brokerage firm offering E-DAT software. The result to the investor is that E-DAT typically enables the investors' orders to be immediately reflected in the marketplace or executed in real-time. GRO has recently introduced a comprehensive training program through its School of Advanced Trading educating investors on E-DAT trading.
Stanley Hollander, President and CEO of GlobalNet Financial said, "We believe that E-DAT will be the next major innovation in online brokerage. This leading edge trading technology reduces brokerage commissions, and more importantly, improves execution for the investors by essentially eliminating the market-maker spread." Mr. Hollander added, "E-DAT is the perfect complement to GlobalNet's on-line analytical tools and financial content. Moreover, by coupling E-DAT with the seamless trading technology that we have licensed from Telescan, a visit to our website may generate new investment ideas as a result of its unique content and in that same visit allow for the execution of a trade without ever leaving our site. We expect to make this seamless trading platform, featuring E-DAT, available on all of our websites worldwide for trade executions in U.S. stocks."
David Brown, CEO of Telescan said, "Our investment in GRO is a significant advance toward our goal of providing investors with unparalleled access to the most dynamic market data, analytical tools and execution capabilities on the Internet. Our investments in GlobalNet Financial.com and Trading Technologies Corp. enable us to offer investors anywhere in the world seamless on-line trading in U.S. securities. Further, we are positioned to drive trading activity through our financial supersite, Wall Street City(r) (www.wallstreetcity.com), and through the popular sites of our strategic partners.
Herbert Lyman, President of GRO said, "We look forward to having GlobalNet and Telescan as both partners and shareholders. We anticipate that the exposure and cyber traffic that GRO will gain from the web sites of GlobalNet, Telescan and their respective affiliates will have a tremendous positive impact in our on-line brokerage business. In the U.S. alone, the value of on-line trading accounts is projected to grow from a current level of $420 billion to $688 billion in 2002. These new relationships strongly position us to participate in this anticipated industry growth."
About GlobalNet Financial.com, Inc.
GlobalNet Financial.com, Inc. is an international multimedia provider of on-line financial news and information services to the investment community through its wholly owned subsidiaries MicroCap1000.com and UK-iNvest.com. MicroCap1000.com, which was fully launched in early October 1998, provides comprehensive, Internet-based electronic publishing of unique content on the U.S. micro-cap sector. Currently with nearly 165,000 registered users, MicroCap1000.com is recognized for its cutting-edge news and commentary and was rated by Barron's (11/23/98) as one of the top financial websites.
In April 1999, the company took the first step in its global Internet expansion through the successful launch of UK-iNvest.com in alliance with Freeserve, Ltd. Freeserve is the UK's largest ISP with more than 1.1 million active accounts and is a subsidiary of Dixons plc, the UK's largest electronic retailer. UK-iNvest.com (www.ukinvest.com) is the exclusive provider of financial information on Freeserve's Money Channel. During 1999, GlobalNet and its subsidiaries entered into a number of joint ventures, content alliances and advertising agreements. Telescan, Inc., (Nasdaq: TSCN) acquired 9.9% of GLBN as a result of a technology license agreement as well as a strategic-share exchange. UK-iNvest.com hired 24/7 (Nasdaq: TFSM) as its advertising agency and entered into content arrangements with the Motley Fool UK and TheStreet.com (NASDAQ: TSCM) whereby The Motley Fool UK and TheStreet.com will provide content on UK-iNvest.com. Further, MicroCap1000.com teamed up with Lycos (Nasdaq: LCOS) whereby MicroCap1000 will be showcased through advertising within Lycos.com's Money Web Guide.
About Telescan, Inc.
Based in Houston, Texas, Telescan, Inc. (www.telescan.com) is an industry leader in providing Internet services and innovative solutions for online technology and data retrieval tools. The company develops and operates Internet sites and major online networks serving the financial, publishing, entertainment and technology-transfer industries. Telescan's Wall Street City supersite provides the most comprehensive suite of search tools, technical analysis and financial data on the Internet. Telescan provides private-label versions of its proprietary Internet technology to many leading financial institutions including American Express (NYSE: AXP), Fidelity Investments, Standard & Poors, Time Inc. New Media, PointCast and Playboy Investor.
"Safe Harbor" statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Except for historical information, the matters discussed in this news release that may be considered forward-looking statements could be subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those projected. These include uncertainties in the market, competition, legal, success of marketing efforts and other risks detailed from time to time in the company's SEC reports. The company assumes no obligation to update the information in this release.