Elektrim share price sinks to all-time low

Ailing conglomerate Elektrim on Friday said it was continuing life-saving debt restructuring talks with bondholders, but analysts said the conflict between the two sides has escalated. A source told Reuters that negotiations broke down Thursday night after Elektrim continued to insist that it could not pay in full its defaulted debt. The comments sent Elektrim's shares tumbling to a new all-time low on Friday. But new supervisory board chief David Syed, who was elected by main shareholders Poland's BRE Bank and French-American media giant Vivendi Universal, said debt negotiations "have not broken down and are ongoing. "The members of the supervisory board are resolved to monitor the management in such a way as to secure a timely and generally acceptable solution in respect of the bondholders and other creditors of Elektrim," Syed said. Elektrim, a former blue-chip darling that owns power assets and 49% of a holding company that controls Eastern Europe's largest mobile firm PTC, wants creditors to forgive part of its €480 million ($423 million) debt and reschedule the rest. Bondholders fear, however, that Elektrim will sell its prized telecoms asset to a BRE-led group, which could fail to leave the company with enough cash to repay them in full. The bondholders declined to comment so far on Friday, but a representative said a statement on the issue was in the works. The news pushed Elektrim shares down 8.5% to an all-time low of zł. 4.41 on Friday, valuing it at just $90 million compared with a peak of $1.5 billion at the height of the tech stocks boom. - Reuters