The Era of Vivendi

French media group Vivendi Universal seems to have gained the upper hand in its struggle with Deutsche Telekom for control of PTC, the operator of Era, Poland's most-popular mobile brand. The group announced last week that the Vienna Commercial Court had ruled in Vivendi's favor, canceling an earlier arbitration award of November 2004 that favored Deutsche Telecom against Telco, in which Vivendi has a stake.

"The ruling of the Vienna Commercial court, which remains appealable, fully confirms Vivendi Universal's position that this award is unenforceable against Telco and does not affect Telco's right of ownership to the PTC shares," Vivendi said in a statement. The company also announced that it had acquired an additional two percent in Telco from Ymer Finance, taking its total stake in Telco to 51 percent.

The ruling is only the latest in a string of legal battles between the two companies going all the way back to 1999, when Elektrim transferred its 51-percent stake in PTC to a holding company, Telco (known domestically as Elektrim Telekomunikacja). A stake in Telco was subsequently sold to Vivendi, igniting the struggle with Deutsche Telekom (a 49-percent stakeholder in PTC). Members of the Vivendi-supported management board barricaded themselves into PTC's offices and refused entry to the Deutsche Telekom-supported board. (Reuters)