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        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

            Tuesday, August 07, 2001, Vol. 2, No. 153


                            Headlines

* B E L G I U M *

FLV FUND: Announces Essence of Fact Book
FLV FUND: To End KPMG Mandate as Auditor

* C Z E C H   R E P U B L I C *

CESKOSLOVENSKA PLAVBA: Threatens to File for Bankruptcy
DAEWOO AVIA: Plans Asset Selloff
LET KUNOVICE: PPA and CAA Call for Sale Suspension

* F R A N C E *

AIR LIBERTE: Will Find Jobs for Sacked Staff

* G E R M A N Y *

CENSIO: Insurance Broker Faces Bankruptcy
EM.TV: Faces 60,000-Euro Fine for Delayed First-Quarter Report
KINOWELT AG: Unzeitig Resigns as Finance Director
PRODACTA AG: Applies for Insolvency Proceedings

* I R E L A N D *

EIRCOM PLC: Valentia Raises Bid to 3BB Euros

* R U S S I A *

MEDIA-MOST: Officials to Liquidate Media Group

* S W I T Z E R L A N D *

FANTASTIC CORPORATION: Posts 71% Decrease in Revenue

* U N I T E D   K I N G D O M *

BALTIMORE TECHNOLOGIES: To Cut 600 Jobs This Month
BRITISH TELECOM: Seeks for BT Wireless Bidders
BRITISH TELECOM: Gets Buyout Bid From WestLB
DOLPHIN TELECOM: Appoints Deloitte & Touche as Administrator
EQUITABLE LIFE: Insists It Is Solvent
EQUITABLE LIFE: Investors Withdraw 2BB Pounds
EQUITABLE LIFE: Treasury Extends Help for Equitable
MARCONI PLC: To Replace Chairman Hurn
RAILTRACK GROUP: Refuses to Comment on Internal Overhaul
SCOOT.COM: To Select Loot Buyers This Week
VERSAILLES GROUP: Former Executives Face Fraud Charges
W & J WHITHEAD: Announces Job Cuts in Bradford


=============
B E L G I U M
=============


FLV FUND: Announces Essence of Fact Book
----------------------------------------

FLV Fund, according to the Friday edition of Nasdaq Europe, has
decided to announce the essence of the fact book regarding the
secondary public offering (SPO) of FLV Fund Korea.

The fact book does not indicate that directors and/or employees
of FLV Management have been guilty of any wrongdoing or an
accomplice to fraudulent actions, rather a victim of
embezzlement.

The only statements that show involvement for FLV Fund come from
Sam Cho and S.Y. Lee.


FLV FUND: To End KPMG Mandate as Auditor
----------------------------------------

Belgian venture capital group Flanders Language Valley Fund wants
to end its contract with its auditor KPMG because of differences
of opinion about an internal investigation into the fund's Korean
activities, Nasdaq Europe reported on Friday.

KPMG draws different conclusions from a fact book, compiled by
FLV's internal audit committee, which according to FLV, showed no
proof that its executives were involved in fraudulent activities
in Korea.

FLV Fund reiterated it has been the victim of fraud and
embezzlement in Korea.

According to the investigation, the company's former Korean
directors used the write off illegally as a collateral pledge for
a loan by South Korean's Hanvit Bank to Joo Chul Seo, the former
head of the South Korean unit of Lernout & Hauspie Speech
Products NV.

The Fund's shareholders will appoint a new auditor at an
extraordinary shareholders meeting on August 27.


===========================
C Z E C H   R E P U B L I C
===========================


CESKOSLOVENSKA PLAVBA: Threatens to File for Bankruptcy
-------------------------------------------------------

Ceskoslovenska Plavba Labska threatens to file for bankruptcy if
creditor banks will not act quickly to resolve the shipping
company's financial woes, the August 2 edition of Czech A.M.
said.

CSPL's liabilities to the banks top 720 million Czech korunas,
while total debt exceeds 1.3 billion Czech korunas.


DAEWOO AVIA: Plans Asset Selloff
--------------------------------

Truck producer Daewoo Avia is seeking to sell its energy
production assets of 130 million Czech korunas by the end of the
year to stay afloat Czech A.M. reported on Friday.

Vladimir Bezdicek of Prvni Dubska Investorska (PDI) has offered
50 to 80 million Czech korunas for the assets.


LET KUNOVICE: PPA and CAA Call for Sale Suspension
--------------------------------------------------

Pan Pacific Airways (PPA) and Czech American Aerospace (CAA) have
filed a petition with a Brno court to suspend the sale of
bankrupt LET Kunovice, Czech A.M. reported on Friday.

The decision to sell the aircraft producer to Moravan-Aeroplanes
Otrokovice threatens its long-term prospects.

CAA, which was excluded from the tender, reportedly entered a bid
of 1 billion Czech korunas for the company, whose largest
creditor is PPA.

Moravan was the winner of the tender last month. It offered 200
million Czech korunas.


===========
F R A N C E
===========


AIR LIBERTE: Will Find Jobs for Sacked Staff
--------------------------------------------

AOM-Air Liberte supervisory board chairman Jean-Charles Corbet
said the airline would find jobs for all staff members that have
been made redundant after Holco's takeover, AFX News reported on
Friday.

Under the Holco takeover, 1,853 of the airline's 4,559 staff will
lose their jobs.


=============
G E R M A N Y
=============


CENSIO: Insurance Broker Faces Bankruptcy
-----------------------------------------

Online insurance broker Censio will have to declare insolvency if
its creditors refuse to cooperate, according to the Sunday report
of the Financial Times. The board is seeking debt waivers until
October 31.

Censio's liquidity problems have come as a surprise since its
investors injected DM15 million into the company in June, taking
their total investment to DM90 million.

Earlier, Censio said 80 of its 190 staff would be made redundant.
Insiders say that the company is looking for new investors and is
preparing for a restructuring.

Censio started operations in May 2000. It aims to become the
leading insurance portal in Germany and enabled users to buy
insurance online. However, users proved reluctant to take out
policies over the Internet and the company struggled to conclude
deals with traditional insurance brokers.


EM.TV: Faces 60,000-Euro Fine for Delayed First-Quarter Report
--------------------------------------------------------------

The Frankfurt stock exchange has fined media company EM.TV &
Merchandising AG 60,000 euros for publishing its first-quarter
results 19 working days late, the Friday edition of the AFX News
said.

The stock exchange has extended the deadline to June 28, from
May, but EM.TV finally presented Deutsche Boerse AG with figures
on July 26, a day after former chairman Thomas Haffa announced
his resignation.

EM.TV has until end of August to publish its second quarter to
end-June results.


KINOWELT AG: Unzeitig Resigns as Finance Director
-------------------------------------------------

Eduard Unzeitig has stepped down as finance director of film
rights dealer Kinowelt with immediate effect, the Die Welt &
Financial Times reported on Friday. Michael Kolmel will fill the
position temporarily.

Experts believe the resignation indicates that the company will
carry out a called for management and supervisory boards shakeup.
Further resignations are also expected.

Banking sources claim management restructuring is the only way
the company can win back faith, as the company has a very tense
liquidity situation.


PRODACTA AG: Applies for Insolvency Proceedings
-----------------------------------------------

IT service provider Prodacta AG has applied for insolvency
proceedings following the failure of negotiations with
shareholders and potential investors, the Frankfurter Allgemeine
& Financial Times reported on Friday.

Last year, Prodacta showed a deficit of DM27.6 million on
turnover of DM32.3 million. The company also attempted to improve
earnings through restructuring, but auditors said that its
existence would be threatened if restructuring measures failed to
produce the expected positive cash flow and if capital measures
were not taken to provide the necessary liquidity.

Meanwhile, the supervisory board has appointed Erwin Leonhardi as
management board spokesman to replace Manfred Metzger-Buschor,
who is retiring on personal grounds.


=============
I R E L A N D
=============


EIRCOM PLC: Valentia Raises Bid to 3BB Euros
--------------------------------------------

Eircom and Comsource, a large shareholder in the company, on
Friday accepted Valentia's increased offer of 3 billion euros for
the Irish telecommunications operator.

Under the proposed revised offer, Valentia will offer 1.365 euros
per eircom share in cash, payable in full within fourteen days of
the revised offer. The payment is composed of a cash offer of
1.335 euros per eircom share and a cash dividend of 0.030 per
eircom share.

This tops the offer of 1.36 euros per share by Irish businessman
Denis O'Brien's E-Island group, which was previously recommended
by the board.

Eircom had now accepted the new offer and would unanimously
recommend it to shareholders.

Telia, which indirectly owns 14% of eircom through Comsource, has
amended its existing irrevocable undertaking to accept the
revised offer which represents a value of approximately 3.9
billion Swedish krona to Telia.

In addition to Comsource, the Valentia offer is backed by the
Employee Shareholder Ownership Trust (Esot), which owns 14.9% of
eircom's share capital.

Eircom came up for sale in October when it sold its mobile
business to Vodafone.


===========
R U S S I A
===========


MEDIA-MOST: Officials to Liquidate Media Group
----------------------------------------------

Officials at the embattled media group Media-Most gave up
fighting a court order to close it down and said they would
liquidate the company, the Associated Press reported on Friday.

Media-Most has already lost all but a few shares of the
television channels, radio stations and print media it once owned
to state-controlled natural gas company Gazprom.

The gas company says the takeover was an attempt to protect its
investment in the financially troubled holding, but Media-Most
and its supporters insist the actions were part of a Kremlin
campaign to silence media criticism of President Vladimir Putin.

Tax authorities have filed a suit to liquidate the holding for
insolvency due to its high debt level. Under the liquidation
procedure, Media-Most's remaining assets will be sold off to pay
some of the debts.


=====================
S W I T Z E R L A N D
=====================


FANTASTIC CORPORATION: Posts 71% Decrease in Revenue
----------------------------------------------------

Broadband multimedia software solutions provider Fantastic
Corporation on Friday said its revenues for the first six months
were $3.4 million, a decrease of 71% compared to the revenue in
the same period in 2000, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange reported.

Net losses totaled $34.6 million, including the cost of
restructuring of $6 million, for the period ending June 30.

According to Chief Financial Officer Andreas Emmenegger, the
company's cash balance at the end of the second quarter of 2001
was $52.3 million. He anticipates that Fantastic will achieve an
operational break-even in the fourth quarter.

Fantastic has posted losses since its debut on Neuer Markt in
1999. The company had a net loss of $60 million in 2000, and in
the first quarter of this year saw its net loss widen to $19.5
million from $12.94 million a year earlier.


===========================
U N I T E D   K I N G D O M
===========================


BALTIMORE TECHNOLOGIES: To Cut 600 Jobs This Month
--------------------------------------------------

Baltimore Technologies is expected to announce a radical
restructuring involving the loss of up to 600 jobs later this
month to concentrate on areas that have the potential to generate
revenue immediately, according to report from The Sunday Times.

Baltimore Chief Financial Officer and acting Chief Executive Paul
Sanders will announce that between 450 and 600 jobs are to go, on
top of the 250 job cuts unveiled in June.

According to analyst Barry Dixon at Davy Stockbrokers, Baltimore
will need 700 jobs to become cash positive.

Earlier, the company has conceded it had been forced to revise
sales figures for the first quarter of this year after it learned
sales staff had overstated revenues.


BRITISH TELECOM: Seeks for BT Wireless Bidders
----------------------------------------------

British Telecom has asked banks to bid for a 4-billion-pound loan
to finance mobile phone subsidiary BT Wireless, according to The
Times' report on Saturday.

BT believes the facility would allow BT Wireless, which lost 95
million pounds in the first quarter of this financial year, to
reach profit despite funding heavy investment in third-generation
mobile networks.

The demerger of BT Wireless, planned for October or November,
would help BT to reduce its debt pile, already down from 28
billion pounds to 16.5 billion pounds.

BT Wireless has operations in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands
and the Irish Republic.


BRITISH TELECOM: Gets Buyout Bid From WestLB
--------------------------------------------

A consortium led by German investment bank WestLB has offered to
buy the national fixed-line telephone network of British Telecom
for about 18 billion pounds, the Financial Times reported on
Sunday.

The WestLB consortium offered to relieve BT of its entire
national fixed-line telephone infrastructure. BT would keep its
customers but have to pay for use of the network. WestLB is
believed to involve other financial institutions in the
consortium.

BT has not ruled out the WestLB proposal but is understood to be
in no hurry to dispose of its fixed-line business. However, an
18-billion-pound windfall from any deal would wipe out BT's
remaining debts. Shareholders might be tempted to press
management to consider the offer.

Last week, two top shareholders requested that BT rethink its
decision to reject the bid for the local network, arguing it
would reduce debt and free BT to focus on its core consumer
services.

The group's debt had been reduced to 17.5 billion pounds at the
end of June.


DOLPHIN TELECOM: Appoints Deloitte & Touche as Administrator
------------------------------------------------------------

Digital radio telephony operator Dolphin Telecom has appointed
Deloitte & Touche as its administrator, laying off between 350
and 400 of its 750 workforce, Newsbytes News Network in its
August 2 report said.

According to a spokesperson for Deloitte & Touche, the consulting
firm is in the process of seeking a buyer for the carrier.

The failure has been blamed on demands from the company's
creditors across Europe.

The firm, owned by Canadian telecommunications company TIW, has
around 1,400 staff across Europe. Canadian media reports indicate
that Dolphin still needs around a million Canadian dollars to
complete its European network.


EQUITABLE LIFE: Insists It Is Solvent
-------------------------------------

Equitable's Chief Executive Officer, Charles Thomson, has
insisted the troubled mutual remained solvent, even though its
outflow of funds from its 24-billion-pound with-profits fund in
the first six months of this year was 2 billion pounds, much
higher than previously revealed.

In a report dated August 3, the Financial Times said that
Equitable has met their required minimum margin of solvency.

Thomson further dismissed suggestions that the fund should be
liquidated as it was solvent. He had no plans either to publish
the financial review that caused Equitable Life to cut fund
values.

However, Charles Levett-Scrivener of financial adviser Towry Law
said Equitable must publish its financial review and make it
available to advisers and policyholders.


EQUITABLE LIFE: Investors Withdraw 2BB Pounds
---------------------------------------------

Investors of Equitable Life have withdrawn funds of around 2
billion pounds from the troubled mutual life in the first half of
the year, the Friday edition of Press Association said.

More than 8% of the mutual's 24-billion-pound with-profit fund
was withdrawn during the first six months of the year, though
Equitable said some of this was due to policy maturation.


EQUITABLE LIFE: Treasury Extends Help for Equitable
---------------------------------------------------

The British Treasury has given Equitable Life special permission
to use 1 billon pounds of future profits to avoid a breach of
industry solvency requirements, newspaper Sunday Business
reported.

The report said that without the Treasury concession, Equitable
would fall short of the minimum safety margin.

Equitable lost a court case in mid-2000 when the House of Lords
ruled it must honor the bonuses it had promised to 90,000 policy
holders with Guaranteed Annuity Rates (GAR) pensions. However,
the ruling left Equitable with 1.5 billion pounds of liability.

The company sold its operating units to the Halifax but failed to
find buyers for the remainder.


MARCONI PLC: To Replace Chairman Hurn
-------------------------------------

Marconi chairman Sir Roger Hurn faces the axe after losing the
confidence of other directors, according to the Sunday Times.

Hurn was due to retire before last month's disastrous profits
warning, which caused shares in Marconi to fall to their lowest
level in 20 years.

The chairman, blamed for exacerbating the crisis that overwhelmed
the company on July, failed to impress colleagues and investors
by his subsequent handling of the fallout from the warning.

Marconi board members Derek Bonham and Sir William Castell are
considered suitable replacements for Hurn.


RAILTRACK GROUP: Refuses to Comment on Internal Overhaul
--------------------------------------------------------

Rail network owner Railtrack refused to comment Sunday about
reports that it was planning to shed managerial jobs as part of
an internal reorganization, the Financial Times reported.

Railtrack was said to cut up to 1,000 senior and middle
management jobs within weeks, as numbers in head office have got
bigger since the privatization.

Two of Railtrack's most senior executives have left in recent
months as the company completely overhauls its senior management,
but wider cuts are still expected.

Last week, Railtrack's chief operating officer Jonson Cox was
sacked over the continuing chaos on the railways, while project
director Simon Murray left in mid-June.


SCOOT.COM: To Select Loot Buyers This Week
------------------------------------------

Online directories company Scoot.com has set itself to select a
short list of buyers for its profitable free-ads newspaper Loot
this week, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

Scoot will run out of cash by the end of the month if it fails to
raise new money through a bridging loan. Its 14-million-pound
convertible debenture also matures on August 28.

Scoot's only way of paying off the debenture holders in cash is
to sell the whole of Scoot or its Loot subsidiary.

Paris-based classifieds business Trader.com is said to be
interested in acquiring Loot.


VERSAILLES GROUP: Former Executives Face Fraud Charges
------------------------------------------------------

Former Versailles Chairman and Chief Executive, Carl Cushnie, and
former Finance Director, Frederick Clough, will appear in court
in January after the Serious Fraud Office charged them of
fraudulent trading, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

The prosecutions relate to an alleged fraud at the finance group,
which collapsed in January last year after the discovery of
accounting irregularities.

The others facing charges are Clough's former personal assistant
Lorraine Jones for aiding and abetting fraudulent trading, and
John Brown Black, accused of helping Clough benefit from the
proceeds of crime.

All four defendants were given unconditional bail.


W & J WHITHEAD: Announces Job Cuts in Bradford
----------------------------------------------

W and J Whitehead have made 218 textile workers redundant at its
woolen mill in Bradford, the Friday edition of BBC News said.

Employees were told of the job losses only hours before they left
the plant for the two-week summer shutdown on Friday.

Receivers who have taken over the firm sent letters to those
affected by the cuts, but unions representing the 640 workers at
the site in Laisterdyke say they did not expect the redundancies.

Peter Booth of the TGWU union said "there is a lot of anger and a
lot of people feel the receivers have ignored their rights over
consultation."

The mill went into receivership on July 20, with the company
blaming the strong pound, the manufacturing recession in America
and increasing imports for the problems.


                                 ************

        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. Kimberly MacAdam,
Salve M. Mordeno and Ma. Cristina D. Pernites, Editors.

Copyright 2001.  All rights reserved.  ISSN 1529-2754.

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Information contained herein is obtained from sources believed to
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