Vivendi: Vienna Court Backs Claim For Polish Telco
PARIS -(Dow Jones)- Vivendi said Wednesday that the Vienna Court of Appeals had effectively confirmed its joint venture's 48% ownership over Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa.
Deutsche Telecom also lays claim to this stake and says it owns 98% of the Polish telecom operator.
Vivendi, Deutsche Telecom and Polish conglomerate Elektrim, have been in a dispute over ownership of PTC for several years and have brought multiple suits against each other in Austria and Poland.
Deutsche Telekom has said that in 2004 an Austrian arbitration court found that Elektrim Telekomunikacja - a joint venture dubbed "Telco" between Vivendi and Elektrim - owned the disputed 48% stake in PTC.
But Wednesday Vivendi said the Vienna Court of Appeals said that the arbitration courts found it had no jurisdiction over the case.
Vivendi claims Deutsche Telekom is purposefully using its interpretation of the Vienna ruling in Polish courts where it is looking to buy out Elektrim's stake in PTC.
In recent years the tide has appeared to turn against Vivendi as Elektrim has teamed up with Deutsche Telekom trying to sell its stake in Telco to the German operator.
A court in Poland, while siding in principal with the sale, has halted proceedings while the three companies pursue court remedies.
Most recently Vivendi tried to circumvent the endless litigation by offering Deutsche Telekom EUR2.5 billion for its direct 49% stake in PTC.
Calls to Deutsche Telekom were not immediately returned.
--Nina Sovich, Dow Jones Newswires; + 33 1 40 17 17 55, nina.sovich@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires "
Posted to the site on 18th October 2006
