Analysts: reshuffling may be in the cards for Optimus's board of directors

Analysts are speculating that Optimus's supervisory board at its upcoming meeting on Friday will recall the company's entire board of directors, due in large part to uncertainty about an agreement reached earlier this month to sell the computer equipment producer to ITI Holdings. BRE Bank and Zbigniew Jakubas, which control a substantial number of shares in Optimus, decided in mid-February to sell a 33% stake in it to ITI Holdings. Under the provisions of the agreement, $25 million was to be transferred from Optimus to Onet.pl, in which ITI acquired a package of shares in exchange for part of its newly acquired stake in Optimus. As the board of directors of Optimus has expressed opposition to letting this transfer take place, the purchase agreement is in danger of not being concluded. In view of this uncertainty, investors have begun en masse to abandon Optimus, reflected in the title's poor performance yesterday on the Warsaw Stock Exchange when it plummeted more than 12%. Analysts say another reason for the directors' departure might be attributed to the company's poor performance in 2000 when it posted a net loss totalling zl.7.4 million. (Parkiet, p. 2) M.S.-C.