Some of the Netia creditors, representing only a small percent of all those owed cash, are unhappy with the debt for shares swap proposed by the company. Netia has agreed to exchange shares in order to wipe out its USD850m debt. One of those unhappy with this arrangement is the American hedging fund Sisu.
Of course it would be absurd to believe that everyone would be happy with a deal which effectively means that instead of cash they are getting shares that they do not want. However in this case it could be an attempt to make a quick buck rather than blocking the whole deal.
In a Warsaw court in June, 95.3 percent of the creditors of Netia Holdings said that it would agree to a deal which would see debt reduced by more than ninety percent. The creditors in exchange received cash which would give them control of the company. However the court will have the last say.
It would seem that very few of the creditors have actually complained to the court but it was sufficient to have a decision delayed. The next session will be on 29 July. Concrete decisions are expected on that day.
Small shareholders of Netia have already complained about financial restructuring. As part of this earlier agreement, the Swedish Telia, the branch investor of Netia, had shares reserved for it. Small shareholders argued that the entity that brought the company to the edge of the cliff do not deserve special treatment. The protests went unheard.