/raid1/www/Hosts/bankrupt/TCREUR

/raid1/www/Hosts/bankrupt/TCREUR_Public/010803.mbx T R O U B L E D C O M P A N Y R E P O R T E R E U R O P E Friday, August 03, 2001, Vol. 2, No. 151 Headlines A U S T R I A RED-STARS.COM: Liquidation Scheduled For Online Marketing Firm B E L G I U M LERNOUT & HAUSPIE: Mendez Sale To Lionbridge Final In Q3 F R A N C E AIR LIBERTE: Swissair Postpones Saving French Subsidiary GEMPLUS: Posts Wider Second Quarter Loss MOULINEX SA: Prepares Capital Increase G E R M A N Y BANKGESELLSCHAFT BERLIN: Company Profile BROKAT AG: Shares Rise on Rescue Hopes BROKAT AG: Vodafone May Invest in Software Group EM.TV: May Sell Formula One Stake EM.TV: Shareholders Delay Vote Until 2002 HEYDE: Sells Software Companies to Avoid Insolvency INTERSHOP COMMUNICATIONS: Shares Fall as Targets Missed KABEL MEDIA: Mathys Resigns as CFO REFUGIUM AG: Court Starts Insolvency Proceedings ROLF DITTMEYER: Fruit Juice Producer Files for Insolvency I R E L A N D EIRCOM PLC: Workers Petition Against E-Island Bid I T A L Y FILA HOLDING: Loss Widens in Second Quarter N E T H E R L A N D S LETSBUYIT.COM: Doubts Cloud Letsbuyit.Com Future S W I T Z E R L A N D SWISSAIR: Atraxis Reconfirms Merger Talks with Lufthansa U N I T E D K I N G D O M CAMMELL LAIRD: French Shipyard in Receivership DOLPHIN TELECOM: Fires Half of U.K. Staff FUTURE NETWORK: In Negotiations Re Sell-Off Solution INDEPENDENT INSURANCE: Solicitors Seek 2MM-Pound Legal Fees MARCONI PLC: Staff Warned Management of Downturn RAILTRACK GROUP: Fires COO Cox RAILTRACK GROUP: Govt Hopes Shift Results In Improvement WILLIAM BAIRD: Chief Suddens Quits Textile Group - - - - - - - - ============= A U S T R I A ============= RED-STARS.COM: Liquidation Scheduled For Online Marketing Firm -------------------------------------------------------------- Web solutions and online marketing company Red-stars.com will be liquidated following a decision by shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting, Wirtschaftsblatt & World Reporter in its July 31 edition said. The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development stopped investing 5 million euros in the company. Siemens AG Osterreich, also stopped investing in the company. Red-stars.com owner Thomas Streimelweger said it was a pity the company had to be liquidated because it achieved the turnaround in all divisions in March/April 2001. ============= B E L G I U M ============= LERNOUT & HAUSPIE: Mendez Sale To Lionbridge Final In Q3 -------------------------------------------------------- Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products NV plans to finalize its sale of its profitable translation business Mendez SA in the third quarter, Dow Jones Newswires reported on Wednesday. In early July, the Belgian speech technology group said it has agreed to sell Mendez to U.S.-based Lionbridge Technologies Inc. for $27 million, but the deal is subject to court approval in both countries and a public auction must be held. L&H is expected to provide details of its restructuring plan either August 9 or 10, while deadline for the company to submit its restructuring plan to a Belgian court is September 10. The restructuring plan will probably propose either selling the company's speech and language technology or forming a new company from these assets. Mendez, which L&H bought in 1996 for $16.9 million, specializes in language translation software. =========== F R A N C E =========== AIR LIBERTE: Swissair Postpones Saving French Subsidiary -------------------------------------------------------- Swissair, which holds 49.5% of French air operator AOM-Air Liberte, is negotiating for a 10-day delay in the first payment to Holco team without threatening the protocol agreement signed, Liberation & Financial Times reported on Wednesday. The Swiss aviation group said it wants to take time to recover after abysmal losses due to the AOM-Air Liberte affair and Belgian air operator Sabena, its two calamitous foreign expansion projects. Last week, the Creteil commercial court authorized AOM-Air Liberte's take-over by the Holco team lead by Jean-Charles Corbet. Conforming to the tribunal's judgment, Swissair had to pay Holco of 1.3 billion French francs as part of the restructuring costs. GEMPLUS: Posts Wider Second Quarter Loss ---------------------------------------- Gemplus, the world's leading smart card solutions provider, has posted a net loss of 39.8 million euros, compared with a 23.3 million profit in the second quarter of 2000 and a first-quarter loss of 7.16 million, the Wednesday edition of Reuters said. The smart card maker also said it slashed its full-year outlook. The company made an operating loss of 12.4 million euros, in line with a profit warning in June, and down from a loss of 2.52 million in the first quarter. A year earlier, the group reported second quarter operating income of 34.2 million euros. Gemplus, which has confirmed more than 500 job cuts, said it has fallen victim to sluggish sales of mobile phones, a market which normally provides more than half the group's turnover. MOULINEX SA: Prepares Capital Increase -------------------------------------- Moulinex, according to the Wednesday edition of Le Monde, is preparing a 600 million French francs capital increase to finance its restructuring plan. The restructuring plan involves 4,000 job cuts and the closure of six factories. 1,500 employees and three factories in France will be affected. Moulinex is reportedly studying the sale of Krups-North America and the Celaya factory in Mexico. ============= G E R M A N Y ============= BANKGESELLSCHAFT BERLIN: Company Profile ---------------------------------------- Name: BANKGESELLSCHAFT BERLIN AG Alexanderplatz 2 Postfach 110801 10178 Berlin Phone +49 30-245 500 Website: http://www.bankgesellschaft.de SIC: Commercial Banks Employees: 15,060 (March 2001) Revenues: $11.5 billion (December 1999) Net Loss: 1.6 billion euros (2000) Total Assets: 202.9 billion euros (September 2000) Total Liabilities: 198.329 billion euros (September 2000) Type of Business: A universal bank with an emphasis on investment banking. Also provides a wide range of other financial services, including commercial real estate financing, private customer banking, mortgage banking and corporate & communal financing. Trigger Event: The bank's solvency situation follows substantial losses in the real estate section, which caused its equity capital to fall below the statutory ratio of 8%. Chairman, Board of Management: Wolfgang Rupf Chairman, Supervisory Board: Dieter Feddersen Vice-Chairman, Supervisory Board: Helmut Tesch Auditor: PriceWaterhouseCoopers Deutsche Revision Aktiengesellschaft Wirtschaftspr’ungsgesellschaft Securities: Total Shares Outstanding: 217,868,170 (1999) Last published in TCR-EUR on August 2, 2001 BROKAT AG: Shares Rise on Rescue Hopes -------------------------------------- Shares in Brokat AG was trading up 47.98% at 3.25 euros on Wednesday on report that mobile phone services operator Vodafone Group could rescue it from financial difficulty. According to Reuters' report on Wednesday, traders said the report had reignited hopes that the software group could be rescued. "The figures last month were disastrous and a lot of people are very worried the stock might become illiquid very soon," one Frankfurt-based trader said. Brokat, which makes software for financial transactions over the Internet and mobile phones, said last month it expected an outcome by the end of September to talks with strategic investors on bringing extra cash into the company. BROKAT AG: Vodafone May Invest in Software Group ------------------------------------------------ Vodafone Group PLC may take a stake or inject cash into software group Brokat Technologies AG, according to WirtschaftsWoche & AFX News' report on Wednesday. The report says mobile phone giant Vodafone is currently the most likely candidate to rescue Brokat as it has placed a 10.5- million-euro contract with Brokat for the group's Paymentworks software. EM.TV: May Sell Formula One Stake --------------------------------- CEO Werner Klatten of media group EMTV has indicated he may sell the group's remaining rights in Formula One racing to improve the company's liquidity and push the company into profitability, the Wednesday edition of the Financial Times said. Klatten might also consider selling the remaining 17.25% share in SLEC, the trust that owns the rights to Formula One. EMTV has long been expected to exit most of its acquisitions, including SLEC, the Muppets Show creator Jim Henson company, and media group TMG. The management secured backing from shareholders to use 20.25% of SLEC to pay back Kirch Group, which EMTV $1 billion to finance the purchase of another 25% of SLEC. EM.TV: Shareholders Delay Vote Until 2002 ----------------------------------------- Shareholders of EM.TV & Merchandising AG have voted in favor of postponing the vote of confidence regarding the management and supervisory boards in 2000 until next year's AGM. The company said it wants to wait until the restructuring program is complete before shareholders vote on the activities of the management in 2000. EM.TV said 97.3% of shareholders voted for the proposal regarding the management board and 97.4% for the proposal on the supervisory board. HEYDE: Sells Software Companies to Avoid Insolvency --------------------------------------------------- Software company Heyde is selling the majority of its software product subsidiaries to avoid insolvency, the Wednesday edition of the Financial Times Deutschland said. In July, Heyde sold its shares in PSB for 3 to 4 million euros. It sold 60.4% of banking software specialist Elaxy for an estimated 20 million to 23 million euros on Tuesday, and sold all its shares in IT-Warehouse and Keos Software. The remaining software subsidiaries are Novolabs and Tantus. According to CEO Dirk Wittenborg, the disposals were part of a strategic reorganization program, as the company wants to focus on IT consulting and implementation rather than developing and selling software. INTERSHOP COMMUNICATIONS: Shares Fall as Targets Missed ------------------------------------------------------- Shares in Intershop were trading at 3.79 euros on Wednesday after quarterly figures missed expectations, the Wednesday edition of Reuters said. Earlier, the e-commerce software group posted a net loss of 28.3 million euros for the second quarter, against a profit of 1.3 million a year earlier, wider than analysts expected. Sales for the second quarter also dropped to 22 million euros from 32.6 million a year ago. Intershop stock has plunged 97% from its March 2000 peak of 140.36 euros as a shock profit warning and allegations of share manipulation at the company eroded investor confidence. KABEL MEDIA: Mathys Resigns as CFO ---------------------------------- Fritz Mathys decided to step down as Chief Financial Officer and deputy Chairman of Kabel New Media AG Wednesday. The resignation of Mathys is effective immediately. Last month, the company filed for insolvency proceedings in a Hamburg court. The Swedish Internet consultancy Kabel New Media Stockholm AB has also filed for bankruptcy, following its parent's decision to cease payments. REFUGIUM AG: Court Starts Insolvency Proceedings ------------------------------------------------ The district court of Bonn in Germany opened an insolvency procedure for Refugium Holding AG Wednesday. Dr. Andreas Ringstmeier was appointed Insolvency manager. Pako Immobilien AG has filed the insolvency request against retirement home operator in June, following reports of a needed DM20 to 30 million cash injection in order to secure its future. However, efforts to interest investors have failed. ROLF DITTMEYER: Fruit Juice Producer Files for Insolvency --------------------------------------------------------- Fruit juice producer Rolf H. Dittmeyer KG on Tuesday filed for insolvency after talks with partners failed, according to Die Welt & Financial Times' Wednesday report. The company, which has liabilities of DM100 million to banks, had been seeking a buyer for its brand name drinks and production plants in northern Germany for months. The parties interested in the company, including Becker's Bester and Sportfit, had wanted to secure a contractual right to cancellation, but the banks would not accept it. ============= I R E L A N D ============= EIRCOM PLC: Workers Petition Against E-Island Bid ------------------------------------------------- More than 4,000 workers at telecommunications company Eircom PLC signed a petition that was handed to management on Wednesday, expressing their dissatisfaction with e-Island's offer for the company, Dow Jones Newswires reported. The petition said that e-Island leader Denis O'Brien had refused to recognize trade unions in ESAT Telecom Group, the company he previously owned and headed. O'Brien was referred to as "anti-union" since Eircom workers are being offered greater participation in the company if e-Island's offer is more successful than its bidding rival, Valentia. The Valentia consortium is offering 1.27 euros a share for the control of Eircom, while e-Island has bid 1.36 euros a share. ========= I T A L Y ========= FILA HOLDING: Loss Widens in Second Quarter ------------------------------------------- Fila Holding SpA, the Italian maker of sports clothing and footwear, said its losses in the second quarter widened to 31.2 million euros for the three months ending June 30, compared with a loss of 19.3 million euros in the year-earlier period because European sales decreased and pressure on its sales margins increased, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. "We are working hard to face the slowdown in our European business and pressure on margins with efficiency plans that have been set up in some of our key markets, and that will have first impact in the second half with a reduction of fixed costs as a percent of revenue," Fila's managing director Michele Scannavini said. Fila is controlled by Holding di Partecipazioni Industriali SpA, a Milan-based holding company that owns fashion house Valentino and publisher RCS Editore SpA. ===================== N E T H E R L A N D S ===================== LETSBUYIT.COM: Doubts Cloud Letsbuyit.Com Future ------------------------------------------------ Insolvency is not ruled out for online retailer Letsbuyit.com although lead investor Shmulik Stein International Investors has failed to deliver a promised capital injection of 30 million euros, Het Financieele Dagblad & Financial Times in its Wednesday edition said. Last month, Letsbuyit.com announced that the negotiations with Shmulik had ended as the UK company refused to transfer the money. Letsbuyit.com avoided insolvency in February when a group of investors pledged 53 million euros. ===================== S W I T Z E R L A N D ===================== SWISSAIR: Atraxis Reconfirms Merger Talks with Lufthansa -------------------------------------------------------- Swissair Group reconfims the news it announced in mid-July: its subsidiary Atraxis Group is in advanced merger talks with Lufthansa Systems Group. Atraxis Group, a leading international provider of comprehensive IT solutions for the aviation industry, serving some 60 airlines and 40 airport authorities, and Lufthansa Systems Group, a premier information technology service provider, have initiated talks. The talks have the full support of both the Swissair Group and Lufthansa boards. Atraxis and Lufthansa Systems Group are both leaders within their own sectors. A merger would strengthen their product and service range further and enable the new company to provide an even more comprehensive offering to its worldwide client base. Commenting, Mario A. Corti, chairman and chief executive of the Swissair Group, said "under the new Group strategy that we announced on 12 July 2001, Atraxis is a key support business of the airline industry. This proposed merger would significantly enhance its service offering and continue its successful contribution to the Swissair Group." =========================== U N I T E D K I N G D O M =========================== CAMMELL LAIRD: French Shipyard in Receivership ---------------------------------------------- French shipyard and Cammell Laird subsidiary Compagnie Marseillaise de Reparation was placed in receivership by the Marseilles courts in France on Tuesday. According to Les Echos & Financial Times in its August 1 report, the last remaining Marseilles shipyard will have a 6-month observation period, which will expire on January 31 next year. The shipyard situation will be re-examined on October 1. Administrator Emmanuel Douhaire said CMR has enough cash to continue operating until the end of September. He added that no concrete offers have been received but that two projects are being drawn up, one by a Genoese shipyard and the other by the former head of the yard, Claude Miguet. DOLPHIN TELECOM: Fires Half of U.K. Staff ----------------------------------------- Dolphin Telecom Plc, according to a Bloomberg report on Wednesday, has fired 350 workers, or about 50% of its British staff, in a bid to stave off bankruptcy. Most of the 150 staff in sales and marketing was fired. Others fired included staff in voice and data services, finance, engineering, product development, legal, human resources and other administrative departments. Company administrator Deloitte & Touche, Dolphin, and its parent Telesystem International Wireless Inc., declined to comment on the firings. Dolphin's five U.K. units gained protection from its creditors last week. Dolphin, which has debts of about $1.1 billion, owes $450 million to its biggest shareholder Canada-based Telesystem. It also owes $115 million in vendor financing, mainly to Motorola Inc., and $91.2 million to 12 U.K. banks through a syndicated loan. FUTURE NETWORK: In Negotiations Re Sell-Off Solution ---------------------------------------------------- Computer games magazines publisher Future Network admitted it was in talks about a possible sale of the company as it has been hit by lower advertising spending and falling circulation, the Wednesday edition of Independent News said. The publisher, which has spent the year restructuring in an attempt to stabilize its business, is also considering asset sales and a cash call to shareholders to pay off debt. Last month, Future cut 140 jobs when it split its UK business into three operating divisions. It also sold Business 2.0 to AOL Time Warner for 49 million pounds, and shed 20 Internet and new economy titles from its portfolio resulting in the loss of 350 jobs. INDEPENDENT INSURANCE: Solicitors Seek 2MM-Pound Legal Fees ----------------------------------------------------------- Independent Insurance's law firms Davies Arnold Cooper, Davies Lavery and Berrymans Lace Mawer have written to about 2,000 companies that took out policies with the collapsed insurer asking them to pay about 2 million pounds owed in legal fees. The three firms claim the commercial policyholders are liable for the costs now that Independent has ceased trading. They are demanding payment for legal work they carried out on claims prior to Independent's liquidation on June 17. Independent's liquidator PwC has already agreed to pay legal costs relating to claims that are incurred after June 17. Some of the policyholders are very worried. They do not see how there can be a contract between the solicitors and the policyholders. MARCONI PLC: Staff Warned Management of Downturn ------------------------------------------------ Marconi staff in Liverpool, Coventry and Italy sent clear warnings to the telecom equipment company's management about a slowdown in trading in the months before the board announced a profits warning on July 4, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. Trade union officials even raised concerns about slowing work in a meeting with Marconi management on April 9. However, Marconi executives appear either to have not seen or ignored the warning signs, and continued to talk positively about the company's outlook. It was not until July 4 that the company told its shareholders that operating profits for the year would be cut. The telecom company is facing inquiries from the Financial Services Authority into the way it kept its investors informed. US investors have also filed several class action lawsuits. Marconi declined to comment. RAILTRACK GROUP: Fires COO Cox ------------------------------ UK rail network operator Railtrack Group Plc has fired COO Jonson Cox, giving the direct control of its operations to CEO Steve Marshall, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. With Cox's departure, seven zone directors and the commercial- services director will report to Marshall. The Association of Train Operating Companies suggested the move was related to a difference in view between Cox and Railtrack's new chairman John Robinson. According to Robinson, Railtrack's performance wasn't improving quickly enough with Cox at the helm. Cox was unavailable for comment. RAILTRACK GROUP: Govt Hopes Shift Results In Improvement -------------------------------------------------------- The government will strip Railtrack of its responsibility for running the national rail network and hand the job instead to the train operating companies because of the continued deterioration in its performance, the Independent News reported yesterday. The move comes amid the removal of chief operating officer Jonson Cox from office. Downing Street and the Treasury have decided that the only way to achieve a sustained improvement in rail services is to give the franchise operators day-to-day responsibility for the track on which their trains run. Under the new system, train operators such as Virgin, National Express, Stagecoach and FirstGroup, would cease paying access charges to Railtrack and instead lease the track from it. Railtrack would continue to be responsible for the renewal of the infrastructure and some enhancement projects. WILLIAM BAIRD: Chief Suddens Quits Textile Group ------------------------------------------------ William Baird has announced that CEO David Suddens would step down from the troubled textile group effective immediately, the Independent News reported yesterday. Suddens led the unsuccessful attempt to sue Marks & Spencer for the termination of its clothing supply contract. He also faced a vote to oust him from the board at the company's annual general meeting in May. According to chairman of Baird Sir David Cooksey, the board no longer thought Suddens was the best person to lead the company. Ruth Henderson, currently in charge of women's wear, will take over as CEO. S U B S C R I P T I O N I N F O R M A T I O N Troubled Company Reporter -- Europe is a daily newsletter co- published by Bankruptcy Creditors' Service, Inc., Trenton, NJ USA, and Beard Group, Inc., Washington, DC USA. Lyndsey Resnick, Salve M. Mordeno and Ma. Cristina D. Pernites, Editors. Copyright 2001. All rights reserved. ISSN 1529-2754. This material is copyrighted and any commercial use, resale or publication in any form (including e-mail forwarding, electronic re-mailing and photocopying) is strictly prohibited without prior written permission of the publishers. Information contained herein is obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but is not guaranteed. The TCR Europe subscription rate is $575 per half-year, delivered via e-mail. Additional e-mail subscriptions for members of the same firm for the term of the initial subscription or balance thereof are $25 each. For subscription information, contact Christopher Beard at 301/951-6400. * * * End of Transmission * * *