Netia board casts into doubt share issue rescue plan

In a statement issued yesterday, the management of ailing independent telecoms operator Netia suggested that the proposed share issue designed to save the company may not be approved at the general shareholders meeting on February 19. "The board of directors may recommend not voting on the resolution concerning the capital increase, or closing the meeting without passing a resolution," the statement read. A final decision on the agenda for the meeting will be taken by Netia's senior management by February 18 at the latest. On Friday, representatives of Netia's two major investors, Telia and Warburg Pincus, reached agreement on a plan to issue 600 million new shares, most of them to be offered to Netia's creditors in exchange for canceling part of the company's debt, which currently stands at over zl.4 billion. Failure by the shareholders to approve the share issue would leave Netia even closer to the brink of bankruptcy. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 19) M.T.