Ad-hoc: CyberTron Telekom AG - Company withdraws application for the official recognition of composition proceedings at the Vienna Commercial Court

Tuesday, 11. March 2003 19:06

CyberTron Telekom AG, which has been involved in composition
proceedings since June 27, 2002, has today withdrawn its application
for the official recognition of composition proceedings at the Vienna
Commercial Court.

This step had become necessary because it was not possible in the
negotiations of the last few months to obtain waivers for the
immediate partial payment of receivables from all major creditors
throughout the entire period of the composition fulfillment. In
addition, no solution was accomplished with the local tax office
regarding the repayment of turnover tax credits of CyberTron Telekom
AG in the amount of EUR 2.4 million.


The basis for meeting the composition requirements was a settlement
offer made by the company and adopted by a large majority of the
creditors and the recommendation of the trustee in composition Dr.
Schulyok in his report: "It is sufficiently clear that the debtor in
composition proceedings will only be able to meet the composition
offered if liabilities are reduced substantially by waivers on the
part of the creditors."

Since the adoption of the composition on part of the creditors on
September 25, 2002, the company has consistently implemented the
measures stated in the composition report. Thus the nationwide
network of CyberTron was dismantled in the interest of the leasing
creditors and the equipment stored in Vienna or returned to the
creditors. An essential part for the fulfillment of the settlement
quota consisted of liquidity gained as a result of the collection of
outstanding receivables. Due to the situation of the company, many
customers did not meet their payments to the usual extent so that
CyberTron has filed suit in more than 1,200 cases; legal action has
been prepared in more than 1,000 cases. Further liquidity was
supposed to be provided by the realization of assets. Thus contracts
and preliminary agreements on the sale of local exchanges and POPs
(points of presence) and the lease of infrastructure were concluded,
which should provide free liquidity throughout the entire composition
period. Based on these contracts, a significantly larger number of
local exchanges and POPs could have been transferred to other
alternative telecom providers if Telekom Austria AG had not
obstructed this process by administrative obstacles.

The negotiations with the local tax office, which have been ongoing
since November 2002, have, however, resulted in a decision to the
disadvantage of CyberTron Telekom AG today. Although the company's
fiscal charges account still showed credits amounting to EUR 2.4
million on March 7 following a special audit performed by the local
tax office in early March, the use of this amount was refused. The
reason quoted for this step was the right to offset this amount
against claims from the composition proceedings.

Within the framework of the negotiations with creditors it became
possible to reduce the liabilities relevant to the composition by
more than EUR 50 million as compared to the liabilities shown in the
petition for composition proceedings in the amount EUR 82 million.
However, it was not possible to convince all major creditors to waive
the immediate payment of part of their claims outstanding in favor of
the minor creditors.

Therefore the Board of Management of CyberTron Telekom AG considers
the fulfillment of the composition as provided by the settlement
offer impossible. As a result, the application for official
recognition of the composition proceedings has to be withdrawn; at
the same time a petition for the opening of bankruptcy following the
failure of composition proceedings will be filed.

Vienna, March 11, 2003

The press release can be downloaded from the following link:
View document
For further information please contact:
Christian Forstner

Company spokesman

Tel.: +43 1 919 29-1202
Fax: +43 1 919 29-1359
E-mail: investor@cybertron.at
Web: http://ir.cybertron.at

All our press releases are also available on our investor relations
homepage at http://ir.cybertron.at.

This press release contains forward-looking statements of the
company, which may not eventuate due to known and unknown risks and
uncertainties. CyberTron Telekom AG does not assume any
responsibility, neither explicitly nor conclusively, for the
correctness and completeness of the forward-looking statements
contained in this press release.
Related Links: CyberTron Telekom AG
Author:
Hugin
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