FT's doldrums means its plans for TPSA are on hold

France Telecom (FT) chairman Thierry Breton said on Thursday that increasing FT's stake in TPSA is not the company's priority, but did not rule out further share purchase in the future. The company would instead concentrate on increasing TPSA's value mainly through improving management methods. Currently FT controls 33.93% of TPSA, while 13.57% is held by Kulczyk Holding and 18% remains in the hands of the State Treasury. FT's former board of directors was planning to increase its stake in TPSA so that together with Kulczyk Holding they would hold 50% of the operator. However, the plans were scuppered due to FT financial difficulties which forced it to give up its option for the purchase of 2.5% of TPSA last year. According to Breton FT would also like to strengthen operational cooperation with the telecoms giant. (Puls Biznesu, p. 11; Parkiet, p. 1) J.K.