Investors pillory Primacom rescue
Shareholders reject asset transfer plan
PrimaCom owns 40 subsidiaries reaching 1 million subs in Germany and 300,000 in the Netherlands. Company is being squeezed by $1.2 billion in debt.
Its main creditors, U.S. investors Apollo and JPMorgan Chase, want to take over its assets, which include cable franchises in Berlin, Chemnitz, Leipzig, Magdeburg, Mainz and other regions. Company's modern cable pipes already offer a wide range of analog, digital and interactive broadband services.
At a shareholders meeting in Mainz on Tuesday, nearly half of PrimaCom shareholders rejected the management-backed plan, which would have included a E5 million ($6 million) payout equaling 30¢ a share and the partial waiver of some of its liabilities.
One of the few survivors of the Neuer Markt, PrimaCom shares are trading at 89¢ after reaching their peak of around $100 in 2000. For many shareholders, implementation of the plan would mean a considerable loss on their investment, and they're hoping to find an alternative solution.
