Northern Financial Corp. has entered into a letter of intent with GlobalNetFinancial.com, Inc. to acquire GlobalNet’s Canadian online trading subsidiary, CanadaInvestDirect.com for approximately $2 million.

CanadaInvestDirect will be combined with eNorthern, the online brokerage business of Northern. The merged units will continue under the name eNorthern. Northern will also get access to $1.4 million in cash held by CanadaInvestDirect.

Northern expects that the acquisition will result in increased order flow and revenue to its online brokerage operation and lower overall costs. It is expected that the acquisition will close by June 30. The acquisition is subject to due diligence, the entering into of a definitive agreement and regulatory approval.

Northern will pay for the deal by issuing $2 million in debentures of Northern and approximately 8.3 million warrants, with 50% of the principal amount of debentures having a maturity date of December 31, 2001 and the other 50% having a maturity date of June 30, 2002. Northern will have the option to repay the debentures on each maturity date in cash or in common shares of Northern.

In February 2001, Gomez, the Internet quality measurement firm, ranked eNorthern as the overall second best online brokerage firm in Canada.