Elektrim and bondholders may meet this week

Elektrim may start negotiations with holders of its defaulted bonds this week, said Jarek Golacik, the vice president of asset management firm Centaurus Capital Limited, which represents a majority of the bondholders. The telecom and power conglomerate issued a statement last Wednesday that it had started talks with bondholders but Golacik said the contact was limited to a phone call from Elektrim's lawyers to the bondholders' attorneys. He said that a meeting could take place this week in London where Law Debenture Trust Corp., the bondholders trustee that filed a petition in Warsaw calling for Elektrim's bankruptcy last month, and Klesch and Co., the financial consultancy advising the Polish concern on its debt-restructuring program, are located. Last month Elektrim said it would take steps to begin the talks but failed to do so. Ewa Bojar, Elektrim's spokeswoman, said she could not confirm a meeting as the WBJ went to press Friday. Elektrim was ordered by a Warsaw court in January to begin negotiations with the bondholders after they filed a petition for the company's bankruptcy. Bondholders are looking to be repaid for E480 million worth of unsecured bonds the company defaulted on in December. Also last Wednesday, the Warsaw court acknowledged 124 creditors owed a total of zł. 2.33 billion ($568 million) by Elektrim. The court must now call a meeting for the creditors, where a settlement would be proposed. In the statement issued Wednesday, Elektrim also said it planned to reduce its debt this year by selling assets other than its energy holdings. In addition, the company moved a shareholders meeting from May 25 to April 10.