Netia's future in doubt as shareholders face tough decisions at meeting today

Netia's investors are expected to make some hard decisions about the company's future at today's shareholders' meeting. Industry insiders also believe that Netia's bondholders could force the firm to shut down if they believe that Netia's cash and assets will cover their financial demands better than the recent offer to repurchase the bonds at 14% of their face value. Puls Biznesu speculates that Swedish-based Telia, Netia's largest shareholder, will vote for Netia's continued existence. On the other hand, Gazeta Wyborcza finds it unlikely that Telia would be willing to inject the debt-ridden operator with another zl. 4 billion for loan repayment and zl. 1 billion to zl. 2 billion for further development. According to Marcin Sojka, an analyst with the BM BGZ brokerage house, Netia could continue operations for some time but will not survive long without help from Telia. Despite the grim speculations, Netia's shares jumped up 42% on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) yesterday, to zl. 3.90 per share. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 24, Puls Biznesu, p. 9) M.T.K.