TPSA will have to wait another year for France Telecom

It is highly unlikely that France Telecom (FT) will exercise its option to buy 10% of Poland's largest telecom operator Telekomunikacja Polska (TPSA) this year, yesterday announced Michel Bon, president of the French operator, citing the current low market price of TPSA shares on the Warsaw bourse, some 40% lower than the zl.38 per-share price the French and the Polish government originally had agreed to in the summer of 2000. The announcement signaled that the consortium of France Telecom and domestic conglomerate Kulczyk Holding, holding 35% in TPSA, this year will not up its stake to over 50%, as previously expected.This also means the Treasury will not receive revenues of zl.5.32 billion it has long been anticipating. Following Bon's statement, TPSA shares plummeted on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) 7% in less than 20 minutes. Insiders however claim FT is still interested in the deal. Bon also announced that FT-controlled Orange mobile operator will not take over TPSA's PTK Centertel, but that 34% of FT's stake in TPSA would instead be transferred to Orange. (Rzeczpospolita, pp. B1, B4; Puls Biznesu, p.4) J.K.