Deadline passes for France Telecom to use TPSA option

The France Telecom - Kulczyk Holding consortium looked set not to exercise its option of buying an additional 10% of TPSA by the time the deadline passed at midnight yesterday. The purchase option was based on a price for each TPSA share of zl.38 plus an inflation weighting. However, TPSA stock has plunged in value in recent weeks, and yesterday shares were trading at around zl.16. Unofficial reports suggest that France Telecom would be willing to pay as much as zl.25 for the shares. But Treasury Minister Aldona Kamela-Sowinska yesterday denied that any offer had been received from the French company. Analysts are confident that France Telecom will not exercise its purchase option. “There could have been no other decision because the Ministry stuck to the price set a year ago. France Telecom could not permit using the option on such conditions. In this situation the Ministry may decide to issue bonds exchangeable for shares, and this idea is very interesting,” said Michal Marczak, an analyst with investment broker DI BRE. (Puls Biznesu, p. 4) P.W.