TP Internet may be forced to spend $118.1 million on WP shares

TP Internet (TPI), a company from the TPSA group, which controls 51% of leading internet portal Wirtualna Polska (WP), wants to change the terms governing its option for the purchase of additional shares in WP. TPI may be forced to spend $118.1 million on this option, having bought WP shares for $25 million in October 2001. For TPI the contract signed at that time included a purchase option of over 2 million shares if WP's users reached 3 million, while at the end of December 2002 WP already had 5.4 million users. The transaction is likely to be closed between June 1, 2005 and June 1, 2006. TPSA announced that TPI had a purchase option of 39% of WP shares. The price per share may be as high as $66.4. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B3) P.W.