/raid1/www/Hosts/bankrupt/TCREUR_Public/021010.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

                 Thursday, October 10, 2002, Vol. 3, No. 201


                              Headlines

* F I N L A N D *

SONERA: Telia Comments on Transaction Costs and Incentive Systems

* F R A N C E *

ALCATEL: To Deploy Mobile IN Solutions in Russian Federation
ALCATEL: Proceeds With Slovak Railway's Network Modernization
FRANCE TELECOM: Partners With Comtech to Provide Turbo Code ASICs
FRANCE TELECOM: To Consolidate Storage With MTI Technology Corp
NORTEL NETWORKS: Unveils Alteon Switched Firewall System Models
VIVENDI UNIVERSAL: Sale of VUP Extended Until Late October
VIVENDI UNIVERSAL: Considers Paying Cegetel Stake in Cash

* G E R M A N Y *

DEUTSCHE TELEKOM: To Eliminate Thousands of Jobs to Cut Cost
DEUTSCHE TELEKOM: Selects Three Bidders for the Next Negotiations
KIRGRUPPE: Deutsche Bank Acquires Stake in Springer
MOBILCOM AG: Likely to Lose German Military Order Due to Problems
PHILIPP HOLZMANN: Perlick & Partner to Auction Economic Assets
TEAMWORK INFORMATION: Will Be Unable Fulfill Its Insolvency Plan

* I T A L Y *

BLU SPA: TIM Finalizes Agreement to Acquire 100% of Share Capital
BLU SPA: Wind Acquires Parts of Blu's Assets

* N E T H E R L A N D S *

BUHRMANN NV: Moody's Places Senior Implied Rating Under Review
GETRONICS NV: Moody's Downgrades Loan Ratings to B1 From Baa3

* P O L A N D *

ELEKTRIM SA: Creditor Petitions for Declaration of Bankruptcy
SONG NETWORKS: Reaches Restructuring Agreement With Bondholder

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

CREDIT SUISSE: CSFB To Dismiss Another 1,750 Employees

* U N I T E D   K I N G D O M *

BIG FOOD: Second Quarter Trading Statement
BIOCOMPATIBLES INT'L: UBS No Longer Holds Notifiable Interest

BIOCOMPATIBLES INTERNATIONAL: Announces Holdings in Company
BRITISH ENERGY: Scheme Actuary to Review Funding Position
CLUBHAUS PLC: Notification of Interest in Shares
COLT TELECOM: Highberry to Petition Appointment Administrator
CONSORS AG: BNP Paribas to Pay Shareholders EUR11.75 Per Share
INVENSYS PLC: IMServ Signs Contract for MDMA Services
KINGFISHER PLC: Notification of Major Interests in Shares
KINGFISHER PLC: Notification of Major Interests in Shares
MARCONI PLC: Executive Directors to Receive GBP2 Million Payout
MARCONI PLC: Announces Results of Poll at Annual General Meeting
PACE MICRO: Pace Vega Gateways Complete SIP Billing
P&O PRINCESS: Recommendation of Rivals Offer Worries Carnival
P&O PRINCESS: Announces Trading Update
WORLDCOM INC.: Proposes Uniform Mutual Debt Setoff Procedures


=============
F I N L A N D
=============


SONERA: Telia Comments on Transaction Costs and Incentive Systems
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Telia (Other OTC:TLAAF) wishes to make the following
clarification in light of the information that has been
circulating in the media about the transaction costs for the
merger between Telia and Sonera and Telia's bonus systems.

Transaction costs

The total transaction costs are estimated at SEK 1,200 million
(EUR 135 million, p. 99 of the prospectus). Of this amount, an
estimated SEK 472 million (EUR 52 million) is comprised of
Finnish transaction tax (p. 99 of the prospectus). The remaining
costs of SEK 728 million consist of costs for banks, legal
services, auditors, prospectus preparation, printing,
distribution, shareholder information and stock exchange fees.
Concerning banks, the costs for Sonera's principal advisor,
Goldman Sachs, is estimated at EUR 20 million (SEK 182 million)
(p. 74 of the prospectus) and for Telia's principal advisor,
Carnegie, at less than SEK 100 million. Other banks involved in
the merger include Lehman Brothers (advisor to Sonera), Merrill
Lynch (advisor to Telia and dealer manager in the United States)
and Nordea (offer to Finnish private individuals). Costs for
other banks total less than SEK 200 million, of which the
greatest part concerns remuneration to Lehman Brothers. The
remaining amount shall cover legal fees, auditors, printing, etc.
as described above. The remaining amount also includes a reserve
for the transaction tax cost, which is variable with Telia's
share price, of approximately SEK 100 million.

Variable remuneration (p. 223 of the prospectus)

Telia has, for many years, had a payroll system that includes
both fixed and variable remuneration. The variable components are
performance-based. There are both individual plans and a Group-
wide plan. The goals for the year in the individual plans include
financial goals as well as, to a lesser extent, individual
performance goals. The goals for the year in the Group-wide plan
include planning and realization of the integration of Telia and
Sonera and the performance levels of Telia's businesses. The
Group-wide plan affects approximately 70 managers and key
personnel within Telia. The maximum payment in accordance with
the Group-wide plan totals SEK 30 million, which is the same
amount as for the Group-wide plan for 2001. Telia's president and
CEO determines the payment based on the Group-wide plan. The
development of Telia's business operations is an important factor
in this decision. A decision about any remuneration concerning
the president and CEO, who is also affected by the Group-wide
plan, is made by the compensation committee within the Board of
Directors.

Telia is the Nordic leader in telecommunications. Over the past
year, we have streamlined the Group, focusing our core businesses
making the company more flexible. Our four core businesses are:
Mobile communications, Internet services, International carrier
operations and Fixed network operations. Telia is listed on
Stockholmsborsen. Sales Jan- Mar 2002 totaled MSEK 13,900
(13,592) and the number of employees was 16,804 (29,936). Sales
2001 totaled MSEK 57,196 and the number of employees was 17,149.

CONTACT:  Telia's Press Office
          Phone: +46 8 713 58 30


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


ALCATEL: To Deploy Mobile IN Solutions in Russian Federation
------------------------------------------------------------
SMARTS, one of Russia's leading regional mobile operators, and
Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA), announced that they have
signed an agreement for the delivery of Alcatel's next generation
mobile Intelligent Network (IN) platform to SMARTS.

With this agreement, Alcatel will deliver its next generation
mobile Intelligent Network based on its world-class Open Services
Platform (OSP release 2.3), part of the company's Open Service
Delivery Engine offer. This is Alcatel's second project for
mobile Intelligent Networks in the Russian Federation, following
the recently signed contract with South-Ural's Cellular
Telephone. Delivery is scheduled for the end of 2002.

Alcatel's Open Services Platform will allow SMARTS to offer
advanced applications, combining voice, data and Internet
services and introduce flexible tariff plans for different market
segments.  SMARTS will use Alcatel's IN solution to accelerate
the deployment of new generation products and differentiated
services and to serve customers in more effective way. One of the
first services to be introduced by SMARTS will be prepaid cards.

Gennady Kiryushin, general director of SMARTS, commented: "In the
increasingly competitive environment, the introduction of
innovative and value-added services with an uncompromising level
of quality plays a vital role.  We have evaluated competitive
products for the implementation of the IN network and finally
selected Alcatel as the most appropriate and flexible solution
for the introduction of new products and services".

Max Raphalen, senior vice president of Alcatel's Applications
Software activities, said: " We are extremely proud to partner
with one of Russia's leading mobile operators and are convinced
that our OSP will make a difference in the delivery of value-
added services today and in next generation mobile
communications."

About SMARTS
SMARTS  (Middle-Volga Interregional Association of
Radio/Telecommunication Systems), is one of the four largest
mobile operators in Russia offering GSM 900/1800 digital mobile
communications services. Its customer base exceeds 400,000
subscribers. By the end of this year, the company expects to have
more than half a million users. SMARTS has a license to provide
mobile communications in 15 subjects of the Russian Federation
(in the regions of Astrakhan, Penza, Ivanovo, Ulyanovsk,
Volgograd, Yaroslavl, Saratov, Orenburg, Samara; and in   the
republics of Tatarstan, Bashkortostan,  Kalmykia, Mordovia,
Chuvashia, Mariy-El). For more details, please, go to
http://www.samara-gsm.ru.

About Alcatel
Alcatel designs, develops and builds innovative and competitive
communications networks, enabling carriers, service providers and
enterprises to deliver any type of content, such as voice, data
and multimedia, to any type of consumer, anywhere in the world.
Relying on its leading and comprehensive products and solutions
portfolio, stretching from end-to-end optical infrastructures,
fixed and mobile networks to broadband access, Alcatel's
customers can focus on optimizing their service offerings and
revenue streams.  With sales of EURO 25 billion in 2001, Alcatel
operates in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit
Alcatel on the Internet: http://www.alcatel.com.

About Alcatel's Applications Offer
Alcatel's application portfolio leverages and extends the value
of telecom networks.  At the junction of both the telecom and the
Internet worlds, Alcatel's offer represents our vision of value-
adding telecom applications for existing and future networks.
With more than 110 customers worldwide, Alcatel has a proven
track record in this domain. Alcatel's Open Service Delivery
Engine is the ideal applications environment based on next
generation IN and J2EE technology. It enables the implementation
of a wide range of applications such as network proxies, WAP or
SMS gateways, messaging solutions such as UMS or MMS, 0800 and
0900 services, mobile or fixed VPN solutions, a complete and
convergent real-time payment chain, and more.


Note:

The Troubled Company Reporter in its October 3, 2002 issue
reported that Alcatel's unit, Alcatel Canada recently announced
employee reductions of over 400 positions or about 12% of the
overall workforce. This was to address the continuing economic
slowdown in the
telecommunications networking industry.

CONTACT:  Alcatel
          54, rue La Bo,tie
          75008 Paris, France
          Phone: +33-1-40-76-10-10
          Fax: +33-1-40-76-14-00
          Toll Free: 800-777-6804
          Home Page: http://www.alcatel.com


ALCATEL: Proceeds With Slovak Railway's Network Modernization
-------------------------------------------------------------
Alcatel announced that Alcatel and Slovak Railways have signed a
34,8 million Euro contract for the phase II of the modernization
of Slovak Railways' telecom network infrastructure.  The project
is part of the 74 million Euro frame agreement between Slovak
Railways and Alcatel - signed in November 2001 - enabling Slovak
Railways to provide enhanced voice and data services to
Slovakia's liberalized telecommunication market. Alcatel is
successfully implementing the first phase (out of 3) of Slovak
Railways' modernization project.

During Phase II, Alcatel will provide all professional services
to upgrade and extend the part of the Slovak Railways' telecom
network, crossing the north of the country and interconnecting
the main cities of Bratislava and Kosice.  Alcatel will take care
of the integration of new-generation SDH multi-service-
transmission systems and 3rd party data equipment along with
fiber optic cable installation,  civil works and building
reconstruction services for the 460 km backbone linking both
cities. The realization of Phase II will take 16 months fitting
the global project's schedule.

" By entering the Slovak telecom market, we are surpassing our
traditional "railway horizon" and intend to offer in a very short
timeframe high quality telecom services to a wide variety of
customers. Within the first phase of the modernization of our
network in the southern part of the country, we are very
satisfied with the work being done by Alcatel.  Through its full
set of professional services, local competency and know-how,
Alcatel handles in the agreed timeframe all aspects of our
project and we are confident that the good relationship and
partnership spirit between both parties will continue", stated
Ladislav Saxa, general manager of Slovak Railways.

Frederic Rose, chief operating officer of Alcatel's network
services activities, said: "The award of the second phase of this
challenging project emphasizes Alcatel's strengths as a turnkey
supplier for telecommunication infrastructure deployment.
Through this award and the successful deployment of Phase I, we
are keen to help Slovak Railways to achieve its strategic goal of
gaining market share on Slovakia's telecom market".

About Alcatel
Alcatel   designs, develops and builds innovative and competitive
communications networks, enabling carriers, service providers and
enterprises to deliver any type of content, such as voice, data
and multimedia, to any type of consumer, anywhere in the world.
Relying on its leading and comprehensive products and solutions
portfolio, stretching from end-to-end optical infrastructures,
fixed and mobile networks to broadband access, Alcatel's
customers can focus on optimizing their service offerings and
revenue streams. With sales of EURO 25 billion in 2001, Alcatel
operates in more than 130 countries.

Note:

The Troubled Company Reporter in its October 3, 2002 issue
reported that Alcatel's unit, Alcatel Canada recently announced
employee reductions of over 400 positions or about 12% of the
overall workforce. This was to address the continuing economic
slowdown in the telecommunications networking industry.

CONTACT:  Alcatel
          54, rue La Bo,tie
          75008 Paris, France
          Phone: +33-1-40-76-10-10
          Fax: +33-1-40-76-14-00
          Toll Free: 800-777-6804
          Home Page: <http://www.alcatel.com>


FRANCE TELECOM: Partners With Comtech to Provide Turbo Code ASICs
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Comtech AHA Corp. and Spectra Licensing Group, the North American
licensing agent for France Telecom, announced today that Comtech
AHA has received a license to use France Telecom's Turbo Code
technologies in Comtech AHA Turbo Product Code ASICs and IP
cores.

Comtech AHA (formerly known as Advanced Hardware Architectures
Inc) is the industry's leading provider of integrated circuits
incorporating Turbo Product Code (TPC) forward error correction
technology, with their products being used in a variety of
applications from satellite to wireless broadband.

"With our new Turbo Product Codes forward error correction
devices now in production, Comtech AHA is well positioned to take
advantage of a rebound in the communications sector," said Bill
Thomson, Comtech AHA president. "We look forward to this
opportunity to work with France Telecom to promote the
advancement of Turbo Product Codes."

Comtech AHA's products include the AHA4540, a single chip Turbo
Product Code encoder/decoder that achieves up to 155 Mbps
throughput and up to 2-4 dB improvement over conventional FEC
schemes, such as Reed-Solomon or convolutional codes. This
increase in coding gain allows a system developer the options of
increasing throughput, reducing transmitter power, increasing the
range of transmission, or reducing antenna size. Other products
include the AHA4501, AHA4522, and AHA4524 Turbo Product Code
encoder/decoder devices supporting a range of data rates up to 36
Mbit/sec for increased performance in satellite and wireless
applications.

Turbo Codes are a form of forward error correction, one of the
fundamental building blocks of digital communication, which
enables reliable communications with power efficiencies close to
the theoretical "Shannon limit." In October 2001 France Telecom -
- acting on behalf of France Telecom R&D, Telediffusion de France
(TDF, a national broadcasting subsidiary of France Telecom), and
Groupe des Ecoles des Telecommunications (GET), which own a
number of patents and patented applications related to Turbo
Codes -- began its Turbo Code Licensing Program (TCLP),
establishing a single licensing scheme for virtually all
communication applications. France Telecom designated Spectra
Licensing Group LLC as its North American licensing agent, and
TurboConcept SAS is managing the program in Europe.

"Comtech AHA's successful productization of Turbo Code ASICs is a
clear validation of the flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and high
level of performance of Turbo Codes," said Jean-Luc Chativat,
TCLP program manager for France Telecom R&D. "We welcome Comtech
AHA into the France Telecom family as a participant in the Turbo
Code Licensing Program and we are pleased to see Comtech AHA have
the opportunity to take advantage of the timely signing
discounts."

About Comtech AHA
Comtech AHA Corp. develops and markets superior integrated
circuits and intellectual property core technology for solving
today's growing bandwidth and reliability challenges. Comtech AHA
is located in Pullman, Wash. and is a fully owned subsidiary of
Comtech Telecommunications Corp. (Nasdaq:CMTL). Comtech AHA has
been setting the standard in Forward Error Correction technology
for more than a decade and offers a variety of standard and
custom IC solutions for the data communications industry.
http://www.aha.com/

About Spectra Licensing Group
Spectra Licensing, headquartered in Rancho Bernardo, Calif.,
specializes in the licensing of communications technology
patents. Most recently, Spectra Licensing has become the
exclusive North American representative for France Telecom of the
TCLP, putting licensed Turbo Code solutions into the hands of
communications product developers and vendors. For more
information on Spectra Licensing Group and the TCLP, please refer
to http://www.spectralicensing.com/.

About France Telecom
France Telecom is one of the world's leading telecommunications
carriers, with over 86 million customers on the five continents
(220 countries and territories) and consolidated operating
revenues of 33.7 billion Euros for 2000 (20.4 billion at June 30,
2001). Through its major international brands, including Orange,
Wanadoo, Equant, and GlobeCast, France Telecom provides
businesses, consumers and other carriers with a complete
portfolio of solutions that spans local, long-distance and
international telephony, wireless, Internet, multimedia, data,
broadcast and cable TV services. France Telecom (NYSE:FTE) is
listed on the Paris and New York stock exchanges.

France Telecom R&D, the France Telecom group's research and
development center, drives innovation for all group units in
France and worldwide. The center anticipates technological
revolutions and paradigm shifts in usage. The center focuses on
innovation that provides customers with best-in-class
communications solutions, paving the way for technologies that
will become ubiquitous in the future. The performance of France
Telecom R&D makes it Europe' s leading telecom research and
development center. For more information on France Telecom's
Turbo Code Licensing Program, visit http://www.turbocodes.info/.

CONTACT:          Comtech AHA Corp.
                  Carly Lister, 509/336-7115
                  clister@aha.com
                  or
                  France Telecom
                  Rachel Reinhardt, 212/332-2135
                  rachel.reinhardt@francetelecom.com
                  or
                  Spectra Licensing Group LLC
                  Erik Johnson, 619/807-3224
                  erik@spectralicensing.com


FRANCE TELECOM: To Consolidate Storage With MTI Technology Corp
---------------------------------------------------------------
MTI Technology Corp. (Nasdaq: MTIC), a leading provider of
enterprise storage solutions for more than two decades, announced
it has been tasked by France Telecom to consolidate storage from
its 1,400 servers into a storage area network (SAN). The servers
utilize 225 terabytes of open systems storage and up to 60
terabytes of mainframe storage.

One of the world's largest telecommunications companies, France
Telecom employs more than 200,000 people, including some 4,000 in
its IT division, which has worked with MTI previously. The new
project is part of an overall consolidation of France Telecom's
sprawling IT environment, which includes multiple operating
systems and platforms. When completed, about 100 UNIX and NT
servers will handle the more than 400 simultaneous applications
that are modified daily for such purposes as billing, human
resources, and customer relationship management.

According to Paul-Henri Oltra, director of engineering for France
Telecom's IT organization, the objective for consolidation was to
simplify overhead and substantially cut costs by reducing the
number of small servers and direct-attached storage.

"The situation was that our nationwide services all managed their
own servers," said Oltra. "Little by little, we were asked to
manage these environments, and we recognized the need to
consolidate servers and build a workable storage architecture. We
knew that this is not achieved by attaching disks one by one."

Thus far in the project, MTI has installed three of its
Vivant(TM) series scalable SAN storage servers, with a combined
capacity of 28 terabytes. The Vivant SAN solutions will provide
France Telecom with non-stop access to data and the ability to
respond quickly to changing business requirements by non-
disruptively adding new applications, new servers, more capacity
and more storage processing power when needed.

Oltra said that France Telecom considered other major storage
providers but that MTI presented a better value proposition,
built around its Vivant SAN solutions, its celebrated SRM
(storage resource management) expertise, and a more economical
implementation.

"MTI was the only company that guaranteed to fulfill our
formidable storage needs and to meet the challenges of so many
servers supporting varying platforms and operating systems," he
added.

About MTI Technology Corp.

MTI's mission is to be at the forefront of developing and
delivering storage solutions to customers -- through innovation,
customer feedback and best practice. A premier provider of
enterprise storage products for more than 20 years, MTI
Technology Corp. develops, integrates and manufactures high-
performance, high-availability storage products for mid-range to
Global 2000 companies worldwide. MTI also services select third-
product hardware and software, and its Professional Services
organization provides planning, consulting and implementation
support for storage products from other leading vendors.
Headquartered in Anaheim, Calif., MTI may be reached by telephone
at 800-999-9MTI (toll free) or 714-970-0300, fax: 714-693-2256,
or e-mail: info@mti.com. Web address is www.mti.com .

MTI is a registered trademark of MTI Technology Corp. All other
company, brand or product names are registered trademarks or
trademarks of their respective holders.

CONTACT:   MTI Technology Corp.
           Steve Lefferdink, Vice President
           Phone: +1-714-693-2786
           E-mail: slefferdink@mti.com;

           Karen George of AccessM3
           Public Relations
           Phone: +1-562-597-8086
           E-mail: karen@AccessM3.com, for MTI Technology Corp.


NORTEL NETWORKS: Unveils Alteon Switched Firewall System Models
---------------------------------------------------------------
Nortel Networks (NYSE:NT)(TSX:NT.) today announced new models of
the Alteon Switched Firewall system designed to give enterprise
and service provider customers greater flexibility to deny
network access to unauthorized users and to defend against a
plethora of viruses, hacker attacks, malicious code and other
external attempts to breach their networks.

The new models - Alteon Switched Firewall 5710 for large
enterprises and carriers, 5408 for medium-sized businesses, and
5100 for enterprises requiring an entry level solution - augment
current models and enable companies to implement the network
protection they require without having to buy capacity they do
not need. All of the new models are currently available.

"Alteon Switched Firewall products have enabled us to use a
holistic approach of building a data center network while
ensuring the privacy and protection of our customers' data, which
is absolutely critical in the managed hosting business," said
Pasi Autio, Development Director, WM-data Infra Solutions.

"A key factor in our decision to deploy the Nortel Networks
solution is the ability to provide virtual firewalls, so that we
can provide our customers the ability to provision unique
policies without having to purchase unique firewalls for each,"
Autio said. "Also, we found the performance of these products to
lead the industry, but more importantly, the high-availability
features are designed to ensure we can provide network security
at all times."

"We are very excited about the new Alteon Switched Firewall
models, which extend the overall performance, scalability and
security of Nortel Networks switch-accelerated firewall
architecture," said Osamu Shimazaki, manager, Document Solutions
and Marketing Company, Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.

"For our customers, high performance isn't enough," Shimazaki
said. "They also expect ease of deployment and device management.
Alteon Switched Firewall plug-and-play provisioning and Single
System Image upgrade capabilities simplify firewall
administration and enable firewall capacity to scale without
network disruption. By offering a broad range of high-performance
security options at different price points, customers have
greater flexibility in choosing the best deployment options to
safeguard their data assets and network infrastructure."

All Alteon Switched Firewall models integrate FireWall-1 Next
Generation from Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. Through
integration with FireWall-1 and Check Point's Next Generation
SecureXL performance architecture, Alteon Switched Firewall
delivers industry-leading security at multi-gigabit throughput.
Additionally, all Alteon Switched Firewall models have undergone
a rigorous testing process to be certified as "Secured by Check
Point" and interoperable with Check Point's OPSEC (Open Platform
for Security) framework.

Part of the recently announced Unified Security Architecture, the
new firewall products offer flexibility with a broad range of
security options at different price points. Alteon Switched
Firewall products are designed to seamlessly integrate into the
layered security strategy of any network topology, supporting
security requirements at perimeter, extranet, data center and
campus nodes for a high level of protection of corporate assets
and optimized use of network resources.

"By offering new models of our Alteon Switched Firewall system,
we enable our customers to implement the first line of network
defense with a security solution that provides industry-leading
performance, regardless of the size, throughput or number of
users the network must support," said Atul Bhatnagar, vice
president and general manager, Ethernet Switching, Nortel
Networks.

"The new models allow customers that require less traffic
throughput to satisfy their needs at a more attractive price
point without sacrificing functionality," Bhatnagar said.
"Because customers can add firewall appliances as their network
requirements increase, this protects their investment and lowers
total cost of ownership."

Tailored to the requirements of service providers and very large
enterprise customers, Alteon Switched Firewall 5710 provides more
than four gigabits of throughput with the ability to support
1,000,000 concurrent sessions and establish 32,000 sessions per
second. It has the processing power, memory and throughput to
support high-bandwidth operations like video on demand and voice
over IP.

For enterprises that require fewer active sessions and do not
require gigabit connectivity, Alteon Switched Firewall 5408
offers throughput of 600 megabits per second, with the ability to
process 170,000 concurrent sessions and handle flash crowd
traffic. It also features built-in firewall load balancing and
health checking.

Alteon Switched Firewall 5100 delivers non-accelerated Check
Point firewalls. Customers using this product can upgrade to
higher levels of performance by adding a Firewall Accelerator to
their cluster when network demands increase.

"Nortel Networks and Check Point's joint leadership in high-
performance security is enhanced by the latest Alteon Switched
Firewall products featuring FireWall-1 NG," said Asheem Chandna,
vice president of business development and product management for
Check Point Software Technologies. "Developed through close
collaboration, the new offerings expand the range of Alteon
multi-Gigabit security solutions that provide high performance,
scalability, and ease of management to enable network security."

Introduced in November 2001, Alteon Switched Firewall 5610
provides over four gigabits per second throughput and supports
170,000 concurrent accelerated sessions. Designed for large to
medium enterprise and service provider customers, it is optimized
to support high-bandwidth applications and jitter-sensitive
traffic like voice over IP and streaming media. For companies
requiring only Fast Ethernet (10/100) interfaces, Alteon Switched
Firewall 5308 offers throughput of 600 megabits per second and
the ability to process 40,000 concurrent accelerated sessions.

In addition to the new models, new Alteon Switched Firewall
features include support for virtual firewalls and virtual local
area networks. The ability to implement a more granular security
policy can be tailored to the unique requirements of different
departments within an enterprise. For service providers, the
intelligent switching fabric enables multiple customers to be
aggregated onto a single Alteon Switched Firewall unit - with
distinct, granular security policies for each customer.

The new Multi Link Trunking (MLT) feature is designed to enable
constant network uptime by providing bandwidth aggregation from
front-end devices, such as routers or Layer 2 fan-out switches.
MLT increases redundancy and allows all ports in a trunk group to
act as one interface to the firewall, increasing overall
bandwidth.

Nortel Networks is an industry leader and innovator focused on
transforming how the world communicates and exchanges
information. The Company is supplying its service provider and
enterprise customers with communications technology and
infrastructure to enable value-added IP data, voice and
multimedia services spanning Wireless Networks, Wireline
Networks, Enterprise Networks, and Optical Networks. As a global
Company, Nortel Networks does business in more than 150
countries. More information about Nortel Networks can be found on
the Web at www.nortelnetworks.com.

Nortel Networks, the Nortel Networks logo, the Globemark and
Alteon are trademarks of Nortel Networks. Check Point, FireWall-
1, Secure XL and OPSEC are trademarks of Check Point
Technologies.


CONTACT:  Nortel Networks
          Pat Cooper, 408/495-9608
          E-mail: pat.cooper@nortelnetworks.com
                or
          Giorgia Casnedi, +44 (0) 1628 43 3117
          E-mail: casnedi@nortelnetworks.com


VIVENDI UNIVERSAL: Sale of VUP Extended Until Late October
----------------------------------------------------------
The sale of Vivendi Universal's publishing assets has been moved
from the beginning of October to the end of the month due to the
complexity of the process, says Le Monde. Bidders now have until
October 15 to present more attractive bids.

Aside from the price Vivendi Universal specifically asked all
potential acquirers to include in their proposals commitments
regarding the preservation of VUP's French cultural heritage and
development prospects on its selection.

While offering between EUR3 to 5 billion for the assets, none
gave plans with regards to culture and development.

Vivendi Universal, which is launching a EUR12-billion disposal
program, wanted to raise EUR5 billion from the first tranche of
disposal by March of next year.

The three consortia in the running for the deal are: investment
holding company Eurazeo, part of Lazard, alongside investment
company Carlyle; Paribas Affaires Industrielles with investment
funds Apax and Blackstone and independent French publishing
groups Le Seuil, Francis Lefebvre, Media Participations and La
Martiniere; and Hachette in association with Houghton Mifflin of
the US.


VIVENDI UNIVERSAL: Considers Paying Cegetel Stake in Cash
---------------------------------------------------------
Vivendi Universal, the French media group which seeks to increase
its 44%-stake in Cegetel, is considering offering BT Group and
SBC Communications cash payments in two stages for their stakes
in Cegetel.  BT owns 26% and SBC holds 15% of Cegetel.

Last month, reports said that the telecommunications company has
offered both BT and SBC, a bid similar to the EUR12.4 billion
tendered by Vodafone Group.

Vivendi aims to increase its stake in Cegetel to above 50% in
order to consolidate the group's strong cashflows. As for
Vodafone, the French business reamins the last asset in a major
European market, which it does not own.

According to a report in the Financial Times, people close to the
talks say that a formal offer could be made in the coming weeks.
The report also says that Vivendi is asking bankers for support
on the possible acquisition.

The terms of the payment proposed by Vivendi includes an upfront
payment and a balance payment following the deal. Yet, the French
company has not yet formally decided whether to increase its
stake in Cegetel.

CONTACT:  VIVENDI UNIVERSAL
          42 Avenue de Friedland
          75380 Paris Cedex 08, France
          Phone: +33-(0)1-71-71-10-00
          Fax: +33-(0)1-71-71-11-79
          Home Page:  http://www.vivendiuniversal.com


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


DEUTSCHE TELEKOM: To Eliminate Thousands of Jobs to Cut Cost
------------------------------------------------------------
Deutsche Telekom AG plans to shed thousands of jobs through 2005,
or about 22% of the workforce to push with its cost cutting
program, according to Bloomberg.

Although the "preliminary numbers" are tagged at 55,000 jobs, the
more realistic estimate is less than 50,000, says a company
spokesman.

Earnings of the former German state phone monopoly was affected
by costly expansion into mobile phones. Deutsche Telekom lost
US$3.8 billion in the first half of the year, despite a pretax
profit of US1.75 billion at T-Com.

The company is moving forward to shedding non-essential assets to
cut a US$63 billion debt load.

The company spokesman also revealed that the job cuts are to
affect mostly traditional phone business in Germany.

According to the report, the reductions are to affect almost
30,000 positions at fixed-line business, T-Com, which will save
about EUR400 million annually.

Ulrich Lissek, a spokesman for the Bonn-based company, Deutsche
will likely eliminate about 35,000 positions in Germany and
11,000 jobs at its international units.

The spokesman further revealed that the cuts will affect
eliminate 3,100 employees at its holding company, along with
2,400 at its real-estate unit, 1,000 from its wireless unit and
3,500 from the company's information-technology service provider,
T-Systems.

The cuts is expected to be made through cancellation of open
positions and transferring workers to a training and employment
agency set up to avert the mass redundancies.

The internal job agency, which is tasked to retrain staff for new
jobs, is expected to serve 5,000 to 6,000 employees who will be
hired within the company or elsewhere in the next three years.
Yet, those who will not be absorbed will still face redundancy.


DEUTSCHE TELEKOM: Selects Three Bidders for the Next Negotiations
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Deutsche Telekom selected three bidders to enter final
negotiations for the sale of its remaining cable businesses
today. The bidders are interested in the purchase of all six
regions: Bavaria, Berlin/Brandenburg, Bremen/Niedersachsen,
Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein/Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Rheinland-
Pfalz/Saarland and Sachsen/Sachsen-Anhalt/Thringen.

"The bids received demonstrate that, now as in the past, our
cable TV business is generating substantial interest from buyers
despite the difficult economic conditions", said Gerd Tenzer,
Deputy Chief Executive of Deutsche Telekom. The company selected
the three bidders based on the most attractive economic
proposals.

KIRGRUPPE: Deutsche Bank Acquires Stake in Springer
---------------------------------------------------
Deutsche Bank today announced the acquisition of a 40 per cent
stake in Axel Springer Verlag AG at a price of EUR 667.3 million.
The stake was bought in a public auction held in Frankfurt today.
The 13,617,900 shares had been collateral for a loan which
Deutsche Bank had extended to the Kirch group. The collateral was
offered for sale because the Kirch group failed to repay the
loan.

Deutsche Bank intends to sell the aquired shares in parts or
completely as soon as it receives adequate offers. The bank is
already in talks to sell a stake of 10 per cent of the equity
capital of Axel Springer Verlag AG to Mrs. Friede Springer.
Deutsche Bank will ask the German Financial Supervisory Authority
(BAFin) to be excused from the obligation to make a takeover bid
for all outstanding shares. Deutsche Bank does not intend to use
the voting rights of its temporary financial investment.


MOBILCOM AG: Likely to Lose German Military Order Due to Problems
-----------------------------------------------------------------
German mobile telecoms group Mobilcom may stand to lose the
EUR6.5 billion German army orders agreed in June due to its
current problems, says the Financial Times Deutschland.

In June, the Defense Ministry chose a group including European
Aeronautic Defence & Space Co., Computer Sciences Corp.'s German
unit and MobilCom AG to bid for the German army communications
order.

The group recently agreed with lending banks to extend an
agreement for the refinancing of the UMTS loans amounting to
EUR4.7 billion due by September 30, 2002. The UMTS loan falls due
by October 14, 2002.

MobilCom provides cellular phone services to more than 5 million
subscribers and fixed-line services to more than 925,000
customers following its purchase of rivals TelePassport and D
Plus. MobilCom operates its own fiber-optic network and owns 78%
of ISP freenet.de.

CONTACT:  MOBILCOM AG
          Hollerstra e 126
          D-24782 Bdelsdorf, Germany
          Phone: +49-43-31-69-11-73
          Fax: +49-43-31-69-28-88
          Home Page: http://www.mobilcom.de


PHILIPP HOLZMANN: Perlick & Partner to Auction Economic Assets
--------------------------------------------------------------
Philipp Holzmann's insolvency administrator Ottmar Hermann has
awarded German liquidation specialists Perlick & Partner the
contract to auction the German building group's assets, says
Suddeutsche Zeitung.

Philipp Holzmann filed for insolvency in March after a frantic
last-ditch attempt to broker a rescue plan failed, two years
after its dramatic 1999 rescue orchestrated by Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder. The company has 164 units before the filing.

Perlick & Partner is to auction 6,500 items of economic assets,
including machinery and containers in three parts. The net
proceeds of the auction are to be transferred to the
administrator.

Holzmann's construction projects include transportation systems
and public, residential, and commercial buildings. It also
provides architectural services, facility management, and
industrial engineering. The company's US operations are managed
by North Carolina-based J.A. Jones, which is currently being
negotiated for acquisition by Balfour Beatty.

CONTACT:  PHILIPP HOLZMANN
          Taunusanlage 1
          60299 Frankfurt, Germany
          Phone: +49-69-2-62-1
          Fax: +49-69-2-62-433
          Home Page: http://www.philipp-holzmann.de


TEAMWORK INFORMATION: Will Be Unable Fulfill Its Insolvency Plan
----------------------------------------------------------------
teamwork information management AG will not be able to fulfill
the insolvency plan that was submitted by its receiver, the
lawyer Dr. Frank Kebekus, and accepted by its creditors due to
the negative results it has achieved in the year to date and its
inadequate liquidity at present.

According to the company's reconstruction model, the insolvency
plan was to be fulfilled on the basis of a second capital
increase of 2.6 million euros, resulting in the company
discharging its debts and an end to the insolvency proceedings.
The financial investor, Aktieninvestor.com AG, had contractually
agreed that it would cover the second capital increase (what is
termed shortfall). The financial investor was not willing to
support the company in this reconstruction model above and beyond
the contractual arrangements. As a result, it will no longer be
possible to implement the second capital increase and fulfill the
insolvency plan.

The receiver will now be required to liquidate the company. The
appropriate measures will be initiated immediately.

CONTACT: Dr. Sabine Brummel
         Tel: +49 (0)5251-5201-145,
         E-mail: sbrummel@teamwork.de


=========
I T A L Y
=========


BLU SPA: TIM Finalizes Agreement to Acquire 100% of Share Capital
-----------------------------------------------------------------
(i) Following approval by the authorities, the preliminary
contract has been finalised.

(ii) Provisional price of EUR18 million. The final price will be
established after the certification of the financial statements
towards the end of next month.

(iii) TIM will receive approximately 900 sites, most of Blu's
network and IT systems, the call centre in Florence and about 680
of the present employees of Blu.

(iv) The acquisition will be concluded after the spin off of
individual corporate divisions to Vodafone Omnitel, H3G and Wind.

TIM, Telecom Italia Group, has reached a definitive agreement
with Blu S.p.A's shareholders. for the acquisition of 100% of'
the shares of the 4th GSM operator. The company acquired will be
later merged into TIM S.p.A.

The anti trust Authority recently authorised the operation having
taken note of the approval given by the Authority for
Communications. In addition to the unconditioned authorization by
the Italian authorities, the European Commission also reconfirmed
its opinion that the operation is in line with competitive
regulations. As is known, one of the conditions of the
preliminary agreement reached on August 6th between TIM and Blu
was the formal approval of the operation by the competent
authorities.

On August 5th the European Commission stated that it had no
objection to the operation in the form of the sale of 100% of
Blu's share capital to TIM and the transfer of separate company
divisions to Vodafone Omnitel S.p.A., H3G S.p.A. and Wind
Telecomunicazioni S.p.A. (the latter having acquired the customer
base and the Blu brand name).

At the same time, the Ministry of the Communications, at the
conclusion of the necessary formalities, issued a special decree
fixing the amount of the contribution for the use of base
frequencies according to the criteria laid down by the Authority
for Communications.

Following these events Blu has now ceased its activities as a
mobile operator renouncing its mobile telephone licence and
returning the 15 MHz used for its operations to the Ministry of
the Communications, which, in turn, has divided them into three
blocks of 5 MHz each and allocated them, respectively to, TIM,
Vodafone Omnitel S.p.A. and Wind, for the duration of their
individual licences.

Blu's customers, who will pass on to Wind, are ensured continuity
of service thanks to a roaming agreement between Wind and TIM
that foresees the use of TIM's network for them.

The provisional price that TIM will pay to Blu's shareholders for
the entire share capital amounts to ? 18 million. The definitive
price, and therefore the balance due to Blu shareholders, will be
fixed later on the basis of the certification of the balance
sheet at the date on which the contract comes into effect. The
conclusion of the contract, signed by both parties, is subject to
the sole condition that the final price be at least ? 18 million.
At the end of the operation Blu's financial position will impact
TIM for a maximum of ?100 million.

At the end of the operation, TIM will de facto acquire the entire
company remaining, after the spin off of the company divisions,
thus gaining control of about 900 sites, around 1400 base
stations, 900 radio links, a significant part of Blu's hardware
and software, the Florence call centre, which will be immediately
deployed, and about 680 of Blu's present employees.

Note:

In an August issue of TCR-Europe, it was reported that assets of
the troubled mobile phone operator were finally broken up among
rivals, resulting in the shut down of the company.

Telecom Italia Mobile said it offered at least EUR18 million
(GBP11 million) for Blu's shares and some of its assets.


BLU SPA: Wind Acquires Parts of Blu's Assets
--------------------------------------------
Strengthening its market position and earnings potential

As a step towards the breaking up and sale of Blu, Wind has
signed an agreement to acquire the company's customer base, the
Blu brand, part of the company's employees, approximately 260
Base Transceiver Stations (BTS), 6 shops and a call centre in
Palermo.

The terms of the transaction also entail that the Ministry of
Communications will reallocate 5MHz blocks of frequencies
currently used by Blu to the companies involved in the sale.

The agreement was submitted to the relevant authorities and was
also recently approved by the European Union.

With this transaction Wind confirms once again its leadership in
the Italian telecommunications market. The additional revenues
and margins contributed by Blu's customer base will improve
Wind's profitability and shorten the time needed to achieve full
financial independence. In addition, Wind consolidates its market
share and improves the quality of its mobile network.

Terms of the agreement

Wind will pay a total consideration of up to app. 105 million
euro. This includes:


(i) up to 85 million euro for Blu's 1.9 million customer base
(with 700,000 active customers);

(ii) 19 million euro for approximately 260 Base Transceiver
Stations across the country.

Wind will also receive a total of 5MHz of GSM 1800 frequencies at
no additional cost.

An additional 55 million euro will be paid for the transfer of
Blu's information technology and core network systems, a call
centre in Palermo, six retail outlets and exclusive rights to the
Blu brand.
The final price of the transaction may be readjusted once the
deal is finalised.

The price of 85 million euro for the entirety of the customer
base means that Wind is paying approximately 120 euro per active
customer, which compares favourably with the current stock market
valuations of European mobile operators (c.900 euro per
subscriber).
Given that Blu's 700,000 active customers currently yield 20
million euro/month revenues, Wind is acquiring a customer base
yielding an average revenue (ARPU) of approximately 28
euro/month, which compares favourably with the current ARPU of
Wind's customer base, i.e. approximately 19 euro.

With a view to fostering the integration and management of the
customers and of the infrastructure, Wind will also acquire 540
employees, of these 340 work in the Palermo call centre.

Impact on Blu's customers

After the closing of the deal, Blu's customers will be
progressively migrated onto Wind's network with no interruption
of service. Blu's customers will also be able to keep their
existing mobile phone number and the residual credit of their
prepaid card. In addition, Wind will welcome Blu's customers with
a tailored promotional offer.

The operational details of the migration will be agreed with the
Communications Authority and Blu's customers will be informed in
a timely manner in the next few days through a national
information campaign.

Rationale for the acquisition

Wind is the fastest growing player in the Italian mobile
telephony market, with a 15% market share reached three years
after the launch of operations. Through this acquisition, Wind
will further enhance its share of the Italian mobile market.

Furthermore, the uptake of a substantial share of Blu's revenues
will generate - net of the incremental costs deriving from the
acquisition - an improvement in Wind's operational performance
with an expected positive impact on the gross operating margin
(EBITDA) of 65-70 million euro, i.e. a 50 to 55% margin on
revenues as early as 2003.

The 260 acquired BTS will allow Wind to further improve the
quality of its mobile network.

Finally, Wind will be in the position to leverage its unique
integrated offer of fixed, mobile and internet services across a
larger customer base.

The agreement has been signed only days after the launch of the
Local Loop Unbundling services through which Wind offers
potential customers the possibility to stop paying a monthly fee
for the first time. Wind is therefore once more a leader in the
Italian telecommunications market.


=====================
N E T H E R L A N D S
=====================


BUHRMANN NV: Moody's Places Senior Implied Rating Under Review
--------------------------------------------------------------
Moody's Investors Service placed the senior implied rating (Ba3),
unsecured issuer rating (B2), US$1.75 billion in senior secured
credit facilities (Ba3), and US $350.0 million in 12.25% senior
subordinated notes due 2009 (B2) of Buhrmann N.V. under review
for possible downgrade.

The action follows the new profit warning of the Amsterdam-based
company. Buhrmann predicted EUR92.0 million in EBITDA in 3Q02
after posting EUR131.0 million in 1Q02 and EUR118.0 million in
2Q02.

The office products supply business of the company is still
struggling in a continued weak end-market, which has no
indication of potential recovery over the short- to medium-term.

The rating agency notes that Buhrmann is pressured to grow cash
flows and reduce indebtedness as its restructuring programs have
already substantially reduced the company's cost base.

Buhrmann has debt amortization requirements of approximately
EUR160.0 millin in 2003. Moody's also pointed out that due to the
weaker environment, compliance with bank levels may be questioned
over the next 12 months.

The rating agency declared to review the ratings based on market
trends and their effect on the company's cash flow, the outlook
of the market environment, expectations of over cash flow ad de-
leveraging performance over the short- to medium-term, as well as
in the company's ability to be liquid under its revolving credit
facility.


GETRONICS NV: Moody's Downgrades Loan Ratings to B1 From Baa3
-------------------------------------------------------------
Moody's Investors Service downgraded the issuer and bank loan
ratings of Getronics N.V., a leading network integration and
software services company, to B1 from Baa3.  It also assigned a
B1 senior implied rating and lowered the ratings for the
company's subordinated convertible bonds to B3 from Ba1.

According to the rating agency, the action reflects reduced
demand for information communications and technology service
compounded with overcapacity in the industry.

The downgrade also reflects Getronics' limited financial
flexibility as a result of its servicing EUR500 million debt that
comes due April 2004.  The situation is further constricted with
weak cash generation and low equity base. The debt includes,
EUR204-million repayment amount of the first tranche of
subordinated bonds outstanding and the EUR295 million drawings
under the syndicated loan facility.

According to Fitch, the ratings may further be downgraded as a
result of additional investment cuts by Getronics' key customers
industries and difficulties in exercising its refinancing
strategy. Included in the basis for future ratings is the timely
refinancing of its EUR500 million obligations.


===========
P O L A N D
===========


ELEKTRIM SA: Creditor Petitions for Declaration of Bankruptcy
-------------------------------------------------------------
In connection with the information contained in Current Report
152/02, the Management Board of Elektrim S.A. hereby announces
that the applicant in one of the two petitions for declaration of
bankruptcy mentioned in that current report is J.Walter Thompson
- Parintex Sp.z o.o., who is relying on receivables from unpaid
invoices for advertising services in 2001 for an aggregate amount
of 606,491.77 PLN. This claim is the object of dispute between
the parties. In the opinion of the Management Board, there are no
grounds for declaring bankruptcy of the Company.

The contents of the second petition for declaration of bankruptcy
are still not know to the Company.

CONTACT:  Jacek Dabrowski
          Director of Investor Relations
          Phone: (+48 22) 432 87 75
          Fax: (+48 22) 432 84 75
          Email: jacek_dabrowski@elektrim.pl



===========
S W E D E N
===========


SONG NETWORKS: Reaches Restructuring Agreement With Bondholder
--------------------------------------------------------------
Song Networks Holding AB announced it has signed an agreement
with an ad hoc committee of holders of Song Networks N.V. Senior
Notes, Vattenfall AB and Stena Adactum AB in support of a
restructuring and investment plan for the Company.

The restructured Song Networks will be a virtually debt free,
fully funded company with new strong owners and an extended
network. Song Networks will be well positioned to fully
concentrate on continuing to develop its high quality services to
its customers. The Restructuring will almost completely
deleverage the Company's balance sheet and is expected to fund
the Company to cash flow positive by the second quarter of 2004.
The Committee is unanimously supporting the proposed
Restructuring, which would have the effect of converting all of
Song Networks N.V.'s outstanding Senior Notes into equity
securities of Song Networks. The Committee collectively owns
approximately 64 per cent of Song Networks N.V.'s outstanding
Notes.

The key terms of the restructuring and investment agreement are
summarized below:

Bond Exchange.  All outstanding bonds of Song Networks N.V.
(other than those bonds currently held by Song Networks or Song
Networks N.V.) are to be exchanged for a combination of new
ordinary shares and convertible preference shares of Song
Networks.  Each preference share has a nominal value of SEK 0.05,
entitles the holder to a 1/10 vote and is convertible into one
ordinary share, at no cost to the holder, on a pro rata basis.
The preference shares are redeemable at the option of Song
Networks for nominal value following maturity of the convertible
notes to be issued by Song Networks in connection with the bond
exchange.  In addition, preference shares will not be entitled to
any dividends and will rank subordinate to ordinary shares in
entitlement to distributions.

The ordinary shares will be listed on the Stockholm Stock
Exchange. Immediately after the debt for equity swap, bondholders
will own 95% of the Company and Song Networks' current
shareholders will own 5%.

All bonds currently held by the Company or Song Networks N.V. are
to be cancelled, subject to such cancellation not having adverse
tax consequences for either Song Networks or Song Networks N.V.

The bond exchange is to be effected through a suspension of
payments proceeding (Surseance) and a pre-negotiated plan of
composition (Akkoord) in The Netherlands. To avail itself of this
proceeding, Song Networks N.V. will file a suspension of payments
(Surseance).  At the same time, Song Networks N.V. will submit to
the Dutch court its proposed plan of composition on which
agreement has been reached with the Committee.  The plan will
provide for all outstanding Notes of Song Networks N.V. (other
than those currently held by Song Networks and Song Networks
N.V.) to be exchanged for ordinary shares and convertible
preference shares in its parent company, Song Networks, as set
forth below:
Senior Notes
Number of shares received

per ?/$1 000 of principal amount:

$150 million of 13% Senior
6,649.89 Ordinary Shares

Notes due May 15, 2009
720.02 Preference Shares

?100 million of 13% Senior
6,530.66 Ordinary Shares

Notes due May 15, 2009
707.11 Preference Shares

?150 million of 11.875% Senior
6,476.81 Ordinary Shares

Notes due December 1, 2009
701.28 Preference Shares

?175 million of 12.375% Senior
6,746.30 Ordinary Shares

Notes due February 1, 2008
730.46 Preference Shares
The Restructuring, which is subject to the support of the holders
of at least 66? per cent in number and 75 per cent in aggregate
principal and accrued interest amount of the Notes, and to
confirmation by the Dutch court, would be binding on all
bondholders, effectively eliminating the Song Networks group's
outstanding indebtedness while permitting the Company's operating
subsidiaries to continue operations without disruption.  To
receive their ordinary shares and preference shares, bondholders
must subscribe no later than May 2, 2003.

Bondholders wishing to obtain additional information regarding
the Restructuring are recommended to contact the Committee's
counsel, Anna Boelitz, of Bingham McCutchen LLP, at +44 (0) 20
7661 5300, as soon as possible.

Equity Investment.  Concurrently with the bond exchange,
Vattenfall AB will subscribe for 769,230,769 ordinary shares of
Song Networks and Stena Adactum AB will subscribe for 384,615,385
ordinary shares of Song Networks for a subscription price of SEK
0.26 per share, for a total investment of SEK 300 million.

Acquisition of Arrowhead AB.  Song Networks will acquire 100% of
Arrowhead AB from Vattenfall AB for SEK 100 million.
Simultaneously with the acquisition of Arrowhead AB, Vattenfall
AB will subscribe for 384,615,385 new ordinary shares of Song
Networks for a subscription price of SEK 0.26 per share, for a
total of SEK 100 million.  The acquisition of Arrowhead AB will
bring to the Song Networks group a cost-effective IP-and
transmission network and improved coverage in Sweden.  Following
the acquisition, scheduled to occur in January 2003, Song
Networks will have increased market shares in the internet and
data business areas as well as an improved service portfolio
within these areas.

Rights Issuance.  Current Song Networks shareholders will have
the opportunity to subscribe for up to 373,241,648 new ordinary
shares of Song Networks, for a subscription price of SEK 0.26 per
share, up to a maximum of approximately SEK 97 million in a
rights offering.  Song Networks is to engage one or more
investment banks to underwrite the rights offering or otherwise
arrange for a consortium comprised of current Song Networks
shareholders, bondholders, or other investors to guarantee the
subscription of the rights offering.

Convertible Notes.  Concurrently with the Rights Issuance, Song
Networks will also issue rights to current Song Networks
shareholders to subscribe for up to a maximum of approximately
SEK 83 million in convertible notes, for a subscription price of
nominal SEK 1,000 per convertible note, and with the right to
convert at a price per share of SEK 0.39.  The convertible notes
will incur an annual interest rate of 7 percent.  Independently,
Stena Adactum AB will subscribe for an additional SEK 15 million
of convertible notes.  Song Networks is to engage one or more
investment banks to underwrite the convertible notes offering or
otherwise arrange for a consortium comprised of current Song
Networks shareholders, bondholders, or other investors to
guarantee the subscription of the convertible notes.

As a result of the above restructuring transactions, and assuming
full participation in the bond exchange, full subscription of the
rights offering and the convertible notes offering and full
conversion of the convertible notes and the preference shares
into ordinary shares, the post-restructuring pro-forma equity of
the Company will be approximately: 19.82% by Vattenfall AB, 7.27%
by Stena Adactum AB, 60.00% by former bondholders and 12.91% by
current Song Networks shareholders.

Reverse Stock Split. The Restructuring further contemplates an
100 to 1 reverse stock split of Song Networks' ordinary shares.

Incentive Program.  As part of the Restructuring, a new incentive
compensation program is intended to be developed for senior
management of the Song group.

Corporate Governance.  It is the intention of the parties that,
following the completion of the bond exchange and the equity
investment, the board of directors of Song Networks will consist
of at least six directors, with the initial board of directors
following the bond exchange and the equity investment to consist
of three members who are representatives of the former
bondholders, one representative of Vattenfall AB, one
representative of Stena Adactum AB, and one independent director
mutually acceptable to the former bondholders and Vattenfall AB
and Stena Adactum AB.  Thereafter, an independent nominating
committee is to be formed to nominate directors for election that
are representative of the post-restructuring equity ownership of
Song Networks.

Conditions.  Completion of the Restructuring, which is expected
to close during May 2003, is subject to, among other things, the
approval of the Company's existing shareholders at an
Extraordinary General Meeting scheduled for mid-November 2002 and
final confirmation of the Akkoord by the Dutch court. Additional
information concerning the proposals to the Extraordinary General
Meeting for resolutions on the Restructuring will be included in
the notice of such meeting, which is expected to be published on
or about October 14, 2002.

The Board of Directors of Song Networks has unanimously approved
the Restructuring transactions. The implementation of the
Restructuring will allow the Company to focus its management and
resources on continuing to develop its high quality services to
its customers.  Upon completion of the Restructuring, including
the concurrent closing of the issuance of new capital and the
acquisition of 100% of the shares of Arrowhead AB, the Company
expects that its cash balances, together with anticipated cash
flow from operations, will provide the Company with sufficient
capital to fund its operations through to cash flow breakeven.

Certain Forecasts

In connection with the financing for the Restructuring, the
Company has prepared estimates as to the possible future
performance of the Company, both on a standalone basis
("Standalone Forecast") and in a combination with Arrowhead
("Combination Forecast"), over a three year period (the
"Forecasts").  The Company has based these forward-looking
statements largely on its current expectations and projections
about future events and financial trends affecting Song Networks'
business.  These Forecasts are subject to risks, uncertainties
and assumptions.  The Standalone Forecast, as of July 31, 2002,
and the Combination Forecast, as of September 19, 2002, are
summarized below.

The revenue, EBITDA, capital expenditure, income statement,
balance sheet, cash flow forecasts in this forecasts section, as
well as other information in this press release, constitute
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of
the U.S. Securities Exchange Act. These forward-looking
statements are identified by their use of such words as
"believes," "anticipates," "should," "expects," "forecast,"
"projects," and similar expressions.  Such statements are based
on the current expectations and assumptions of the management of
Song Networks only, and Song Networks does not undertake to
publicly update or revise these statements, whether as a result
of new information, future events or otherwise.  These forward-
looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties
and other factors that could cause Song Networks' actual future
results, performance and achievements to differ materially from
those forecasted or suggested in this press release.  The most
important of such factors is Song Networks' potential inability
to effect its restructuring on the terms described in this
release.  Furthermore, with respect to revenue forecasts, such
factors include, but are not limited to: (a) decline in demand
for Song Networks' telecommunications services; (b) pricing
pressures from Song Networks' direct competitors as well as from
providers of alternative services; (c) failures, shutdowns or
service disturbances with respect to Song Networks' networks; and
(d) worsening carrier and Internet data market weakness.  In
addition to these risks, EBITDA forecasts and other forward-
looking information in this press release are subject to such
risks as: (a) increased expenditures incurred in the maintenance
and expansion of Song Networks' networks; (b) Song Networks'
inability to develop and maintain efficient operations support;
and (c) regulatory developments in Europe adverse to Song
Networks or difficulties of Song Networks in maintaining
necessary telecommunications licenses or other governmental
approvals.  For a more detailed discussion of such risks
affecting the Company, please refer to Song Networks' reports
that are filed from time to time with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission, including the Company's annual report on
Form 20-F and reports on Form 6-K.

Standalone Business Plan

The Song Networks group, on a standalone basis, is forecast to
become EBITDA positive towards the end of the fourth quarter
2002, due mainly to an increase in gross margin and a decrease in
SG&A costs.  The increase in gross margin will be largely driven
by an improved revenue mix and increasing revenues.  The decrease
in SG&A costs will be largely driven by lower payroll costs as a
result of headcount reductions. The Company estimates full year
2002 revenues of SEK 2.3 - 2.4 billion (USD 250-260 million).
Revenues are forecast to increase to SEK 2.6 billion in 2003 and
to SEK 3.0 billion in 2004, corresponding to a compounded annual
growth rate of approximately 14%. Gross margin, on a standalone
basis, is expected to grow by approximately 3-4 percentage points
during 2003, from the 40.7% result published in the second
quarter for 2002. In 2004, gross margin is expected to grow an
additional 1-2 percentage points. These forward-looking
statements are based on expectations and projections about future
events of which there is no guarantee of the actual results.

Combined Business Plan

As part of the Restructuring, Song Networks will acquire 100% of
the shares of Arrowhead AB.  Combined revenues and margins are
expected to remain similar to those forecast for Song Networks on
a standalone basis.  This is mainly due to Arrowhead's relatively
small operations as compared to those of Song Networks.  For the
combined fiscal years of 2003 and 2004, as a result of the
business combination, operating synergies are expected, including
capital expenditures savings of approximately SEK 100 million
(USD 11 million).

The Arrowhead customer base is expected to bring in annual
revenues of approximately SEK 120 million (USD 13 million) in
both 2003 and 2004.  Revenues in the Song Networks business are
forecast to decline by SEK 32 million (USD 3 million) per annum
due to the loss of Arrowhead as a customer.  This loss is offset
by the corresponding operating expense savings to Arrowhead.

Run-rate SG&A levels, on a combined basis, are expected to be
approximately SEK 245 million per quarter (USD 27 million) from
the third quarter for 2003.  However, in the first two quarters
of 2003, SG&A costs are expected to be approximately SEK 25-30
million (USD 2.7-3.2 million) per quarter higher, as full
integration of the two businesses is not expected to be completed
until the third quarter for 2003.  Gross margin, on a combined
basis, is expected to increase another 1-2 percentage points
during 2003.

Cash Flows

Consistent with the projected revenue growth, and corresponding
growth in operating expenses, the Company is projected to operate
at a working capital deficit.  As at August 31, 2002, the Company
had a SEK 200 million working capital facility in place.

The Company, on a standalone basis, forecasts capital
expenditures of SEK 400 million (USD 43 million) per year for
2003 and 2004. Projected capital expenditures consist mainly of
expenses related to the provision of new customers, the migration
of current customers from leased lines to the Song group network
and to maintenance of the Song group network.

The Company currently estimates its maximum funding requirement,
on a combined basis with Arrowhead, (that is, the additional
financing required to bring it to cashflow breakeven) to be
approximately SEK 350 million (USD 38 million) forecast to occur
in the first quarter of 2004. This funding requirement is to be
met in part by the proposed equity injection of SEK 300 million
(USD 33 million) from Vattenfall AB and Stena Adactum AB, the SEK
97 million (USD 11 million) rights issue and the SEK 98 million
(USD 11 million) convertible notes issue. The Company expects to
announce financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year
2002 on November 13, 2002.

Exchange rates assumed

SEK to USD = 9.2184

SEK to EUR = 9.0236

Song Networks is a data and telecommunications operator with
activities in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark. The Company's
business concept is to offer the best broadband solution for data
communication, internet and voice to businesses in the Nordic
region. This means that Song Networks supplies communication
solutions that are attractively customized for each corporate
customer. Song Networks is currently the only pan Nordic operator
investing in local access networks with broadband capacity. The
Company has built local access networks in the largest cities in
the Nordic region. The access networks, which are linked by a
long-distance network is one of the fastest data and internet
super-highways in Europe, with an initial capacity for customers
of up to one gigabit. The Company was founded in 1995 in Sweden
and has approximately 1,000 employees. The head office is located
in Stockholm and there are an additional 34 offices located in
the Nordic region.

CONTACTS: Song Networks Holding AB
         Tomas Franz,n, CEO
         Tel: +46 8 5631 0111
         Mobile: +46 701 810 111
         E-mail: tomas.franzen@songnetworks.net

         Song Networks Holding AB
         Jenny Moquist
         Investor Relations Manager
         Tel: +46 8 5631 0219
         Mobile: +46 701 810 219
         E-mail: jenny.moquist@songnetworks.net
         Website: http://www.songnetworks.net/


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


CREDIT SUISSE: CSFB To Dismiss Another 1,750 Employees
------------------------------------------------------
Credit Suisse First Boston will axe another 1,750 job cuts in
addition to the 4,8000 redundancies announced a year ago in order
to save GBP319 million (US$500 million) in the bank's annual cost
base.

According to Times Online, the job slash would affect mostly
employees in its New York operation.  The troubled investment
bank did not provide the number of job cut casualties in London.

Chief executive John Mack, who communicated the additional
workforce reduction to employees, said ""Unfortunately, in this
environment, to be competitive we simply have no alternative. And
we owe it to our shareholders."

Credit Suisse Group is the holding company for the three main
operating companies in the group, Credit Suisse, Credit Suisse
First Boston and Winterthur.

Rating agency, Fitch, which changed the outlook on Credit Suisse
Group's 'AA-'Long-term rating to Negative from Stable, also warns
that any further deterioration in the performance of the main
operating subsidiary within at least the next year may downgrade
the entity's Long-term rating one-notch.

Fitch explains that changes in the performance of one Credit
Suisse group translate to the financial strength of the others
due to the degree of integration within the group.

CONTACT: Credit Suisse Group
         Investor Relations
         Tel: 41 1 333 4570
         Website: http://www.creditsuisse.com


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


BIG FOOD: Second Quarter Trading Statement
------------------------------------------
In line with its stated practice the Company announces today its
second quarter trading statement of the 2002/2003 reporting year
in respect of the thirteen weeks to the 27th September 2002.

Introduction

Market growth has slowed during the period, however our wholesale
businesses have continued to trade well.  At Iceland retail
margins have been re-established whilst retail sales were broadly
in line with previous trends.

Sales

During the quarter Booker continued to make good progress and
Woodward
Foodservice again moved ahead strongly. These wholesale
businesses represented approximately 70% of Group sales over the
period.

Iceland continues to experience weakness in its sales performance
whilst action has successfully been taken to restore gross
margin. Meanwhile our refurbished stores continue to impress and
demonstrate that this strategic initiative will deliver a step
change in performance.

Like for Like sales for the 13 weeks to the 27th September 2002
were as follows:

Group Booker                     -1.5%
                                  0.9%
               -  Tobacco        -1.9%
               -  Non Tobacco    3.2%
Woodward                         13.5%
Iceland                          -7.7%

During this period Booker launched two major initiatives in the
delivered wholesale sector. Firstly the Delivery Hub, a
specialised delivery site providing enhanced service and better
use of our assets. Secondly the Drop Shipment programme, which
involves direct delivery, to customers, of products like bread
and milk that are needed daily. Both initiatives are aimed to
generate increased sales through a more comprehensive and
professional service.

This is part of the Booker strategy to increase its participation
in the higher growth segments of the wholesale market.

Woodward also opened an ambient pick centre at Rhyl offering the
Booker range of products, including Chef's Larder, to its
customers in Wales and the Northwest.

At Iceland like for like sales at the original four new format
stores are achieving uplifts averaging 14.7%.

The reformatting programme continues with the completion of four
more refits and the opening of two new concept stores. This
brings to 10 the number of stores trading in new formats.

Net Debt

Average net debt for the period 18th June to 27th September was
o246m, in line with our expectations. This may increase during
the remainder of the year as our investment plans are
implemented.

Commenting on this statement, Chief Executive, Bill Grimsey said,
'Following our statement in July our wholesale business continues
to make good progress. I'm particularly pleased that margins at
Iceland were quickly restored, whilst the initiatives we have
developed to improve sales are being implemented in store.

The implementation of the strategic initiatives within the Group
is making good progress.'

The interim results will be announced on 7th November 2002.

CONTACTS: The Big Food Group
         Bill Grimsey
         Chief Executive
         Bill Hoskins
         Finance Director
         David Sawday
         Group Head of PR
         Tel: 020 7796 4133
         Hudson Sandler
         Tel:  020 7796 4133


BIOCOMPATIBLES INT'L: UBS No Longer Holds Notifiable Interest
-------------------------------------------------------------
Biocompatibles International plc have been advised that UBS
Warburg, a business group of UBS AG, no longer has a notifiable
interest in the issued ordinary share capital of the Company.

CONTACT: Biocompatibles International plc
         Tel: +44 (0)1252 732732
         Crispin Simon, Chief Executive
         Swag Mukerji, Finance Director
         Financial Dynamics
         Tel: +44 (0)20 7831 3113


BIOCOMPATIBLES INTERNATIONAL: Announces Holdings in Company
-----------------------------------------------------------
The Company was advised, pursuant to Section 198 of the Companies
Act
1985, that INVESCO English and International Trust plc has an
interest in 1,355,725 ordinary shares in the Company representing
3.04% of its issued ordinary share capital.

CONTACT: Biocompatibles International plc
         Tel: +44 (0)1252 732732
         Crispin Simon, Chief Executive
         Swag Mukerji, Finance Director
         Financial Dynamics
         Tel: +44 (0)20 7831 3113


BRITISH ENERGY: Scheme Actuary to Review Funding Position
---------------------------------------------------------
The Company announces that an interim review of the funding
position as at 31st December 2002 will be carried out by the
Scheme Actuary of the Electricity Supply Pension Scheme (ESPS),
including the British Energy Generation Group (BEGG) of ESPS,
which covers the majority of British Energy's UK employees.

Following recent falls in the value of stock markets, the Company
has been advised that it might be imprudent to continue the
existing use of the BEGG surplus. On this basis, the Company may
cease using the surplus with effect from 1st January 2003 and may
as a consequence pay additional contributions in 2003 and/or
subsequent years.

Any final decision on the level of any additional contributions
for 2003 will be implemented by no later than 19th January 2003
and will be dependent upon the valuation of the BEGG's equity and
bond assets at 31st December 2002.

In respect of the basic employer's contribution rate, it is
unlikely that any additional cash contribution by the Company
will exceed o13m in any financial year for the period up to
receiving the results of the next formal actuarial valuation of
the ESPS. This valuation is due to be carried out as at 31st
March 2004.

Separate pension arrangements are in place for Bruce Power and
the next review of its pension scheme is due to take place in
December 2003.

CONTACTS: Paul Heward
         (Investor Relations)
         Tel: 01355 262201
         Website: http://www.british-energy.com/


CLUBHAUS PLC: Notification of Interest in Shares
------------------------------------------------
The Company was notified on 8 October 2002 that Deutsche Bank AG
is interested in 89,235,907 ordinary shares in the Company,
representing 9.75% of the issued share capital.

CONTACT: John Hume, Chairman
         Charlie Parker, Managing Director
         Clubhaus PLC
         Tel: 0870 240 8924

         Capel Irwin
         KBC Peel Hunt Limited
         Tel: 0207 418 8900

         Giles Sanderson/James Melville-Ross
         Financial Dynamics
         Tel: 0207 831 3113


COLT TELECOM: Highberry to Petition Appointment Administrator
-------------------------------------------------------------
The Board of COLT Telecom Group plc announces that Highberry
Limited (a Hedge Fund) has notified COLT that it intends to
present a petition for the appointment of an administrator to
COLT. There is no basis whatever for Highberry taking this
action.

Highberry alleges that COLT will not be able to repay or
refinance its bonds when they become due between 2005 and 2009.
Highberry claims that its allegation justifies the appointment of
an administrator.

The Board believes that the allegations made by Highberry are
entirely without foundation:

   COLT has approximately o1 billion of cash, with no bank debt.
   COLT's EBITDA is growing and its capital expenditure
requirement is
    reducing, as the core network construction is now complete.
   COLT expects to be free cashflow positive during 2005.
   The Board is confident that COLT will be able to repay or
refinance its bonds when they fall due.

The Board will take whatever steps are required to protect the
interests of its stakeholders against this self-serving attempt
to force an unjustified transfer of value from shareholders to
bondholders.

Highberry which is part of The Elliott Group, a New York based
Hedge Fund, has informed COLT that it holds senior notes and
senior convertible notes issued by COLT.

CONTACT: John Doherty Tom Buchanan / Jonathan Glass
         Director Investor Relations Brunswick
         Tel:+44 20 7390 3681 Tel +44 20 7404 5959


CONSORS AG: BNP Paribas to Pay Shareholders EUR11.75 Per Share
--------------------------------------------------------------
Shareholders of the remaining 4.95% stake in Consors Discount
Broker are to receive EUR11.75 per share as a squeeze-out offer
from French bank BNP Paribas, says Suddeutsche Zeitung.  The deal
is to be approved at an extraordinary general meeting on November
14.

In September, BNP Paribas has requested the Board of Management
of Consors that an extraordinary shareholders' meeting of Consors
approves a resolution whereby the shares held by the remaining
minority shareholders of Consors Discount-Broker AG be
transferred to BNP Paribas against payment of a cash compensation
per no-par-value bearer share of Consors Discount-Broker AG.

Since BNP Paribas purchased the German online broker, Consors
revealed an EUR160 million interim loss and anticipates a full-
year deficit. BNP purchased Consors for EUR485 million from
Germany's troubled
Schmidtbank.

According to the report, BNP Paribas is planning to merge Consors
with its own online activity, Cortal.  Consors earlier wrote-off
EUR121 million of exceptional items in the first half--a move
which analysts understood as clearing the balance sheet ahead of
its integration with BNP's Cortal brokerage.


INVENSYS PLC: IMServ Signs Contract for MDMA Services
-----------------------------------------------------
Invensys IMServ North America LLC (IMServ) announces that it has
signed a contract for Meter Data Management Services for an ESP
in the deregulated market in California.

Constellation NewEnergy has selected IMServ to provide Meter Data
Management Agent (MDMA) Services for the direct access customers
in the deregulated California market. IMServ, certified to offer
MDMA services in California, Arizona, Illinois and New York, will
be collecting interval data from Constellation NewEnergy
customers' meters. The MDMA services provided by IMServ to
Constellation NewEnergy include

    --  data collection based on Constellation's supplied meter
        reading schedule which provides Constellation's customer
        choice of billing dates
    --  validating, editing and estimating (VEE) the meter data
per
        the California data management requirements
    --  posting the data in the required Constellation's format
to the
        MDMA server for Constellation to retrieve.

The data collected is used by Constellation NewEnergy for billing
and planning purposes as well as demand zone aggregation for
reporting to the California ISO.

"Our ability to support customers like Constellation NewEnergy is
a testament to IMServ's commitment to the metering services
business. We have a proven track record as a data services
provider with over 25 customers throughout the nation. Our
capabilities as a field services provider demonstrates that we
are the only nationwide company that can support both disciplines
for the energy industry," says Mike Jordan, VP and General
Manager of IMServ North America.

About Constellation NewEnergy

Constellation NewEnergy is a competitive energy supplier serving
commercial and industrial customers throughout the United States.
Constellation NewEnergy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the
Constellation Energy Group (NYSE: CEG), a Fortune 500 company
based out of Baltimore, Maryland. Constellation NewEnergy's
experience in the competitive energy markets, outstanding
customer service customized products and solutions and the strong
business values, make Constellation NewEnergy the nation's
leading competitive energy supplier. More information on
Constellation NewEnergy and its products and services is
available at www.newenergy.com

About Invensys

Invensys plc is a global leader in production technology and
energy management. The group helps customers improve their
performance and profitability using innovative services and
technologies and a deep understanding of their industries and
applications.
Invensys Production Management works closely with customers in
order to drive up performance of their production assets,
maximize their return on investments in production technologies
and remove cost and cash from their whole supply chain. The
division includes APV, Avantis, Baan, Eurotherm, Foxboro,
Simsci/Esscor, Triconex and Wonderware. These businesses address
process and batch industries -- including the oil, gas and
chemicals, food, beverage and personal health care -- and the
discrete and hybrid manufacturing sectors.

Invensys Energy Management works with clients involved in the
supply, measurement and consumption of energy and water, to
reduce costs and waste and improve the efficiency, reliability
and security of power supply. The division includes Energy
Management Solutions, Appliance Controls, Climate Controls,
Global Services, Metering Systems, Powerware and Home Control
Systems. These businesses focus on markets connected with power
and energy infrastructure for industrial, commercial and
residential buildings.

The company also serves the specialized rail, wind-power and
electronic manufacturing (power components) markets through
Invensys Rail Systems, Hansen Transmissions and Lambda,
respectively, in its development division.

Invensys operates in more than 80 countries, with its
headquarters in London. For more information, visit
www.invensys.com.

About IMServ

The premier supplier of meter reading services and systems,
IMServ is a leading energy services company helping electric,
water and natural gas utilities, energy service providers, ISOs
and corporations achieve greater operating efficiencies, manage
risk, and deliver superior service by providing data management
and field metering services. IMServ is an operating company of
Invensys plc. IMServ has operations in the United Kingdom,
Benelux and North America. For more information on IMServ, please
visit www.imserv.invensys.com.

CONTACT:  Invensys
          Robin Townell
          Phone: 414/291-6537
          E-mail: robin.townell@invensys.com


KINGFISHER PLC: Notification of Major Interests in Shares
---------------------------------------------------------
Name of company: Kingfisher plc

Name of shareholder having a major interest: Barclays PLC

Name of the registered holder(s):
See http://bankrupt.com/misc/kingfisher2.pdf

Date company informed: october 8 2002

Total holding following this notification:84,420,485

Total % holding of issued class following notification:  3.26%

Name of contact and telephone number for queries:
M H Stokes
Tel: 020 7725 5883

Name of authorised company official making the notification:
M H Stokes, Deputy Company Secretary
Date of notification: October 8 2002


KINGFISHER PLC: Notification of Major Interests in Shares
---------------------------------------------------------
Name of company: Kingfisher Plc

Name of shareholder: Lehman Brothers International

Percentage of issued class: 6.27%

Class of security: ordinary shares of 13.75 each

Date of transaction: October 3 2002

Date company informed: October 7 2002

Total holding following this notification: 162,229,941 SHARES

Total % holding of issued class following this notification:
6.27%

Name of contact and telephone number for queries:
Julie Wilson
Tel: 020 7725 5853

Name of authorised company official making the notification:
Julie Wilson, Company Secretarial Assistant
Date of notification October 8 2002


MARCONI PLC: Executive Directors to Receive GBP2 Million Payout
---------------------------------------------------------------
Inspection of the director's service contracts revealed that
Marconi's three executive directors are due for bonus payouts
totaling nearly GBP2 million if they successfully rescue the
company. The amount is one and a half times their respective
salaries according to Times Online.

The payouts, which were agreed one week after the company's 2002
annual report were finalized, provides that: Mike Parton, chief
executive, can expect o787,500; Mike Donovan, chief operating
officer, will receive o600,000; and Steve Hare, finance director,
would have o562,500.

A spokesman for the company argues that the payouts are retention
incentives.  Denying the secrecy of the deal, the spokesman said,
"The directors' service contracts have been available for public
inspection since May and still can be viewed."

Meanwhile, Marconi's interim chairman Derek Bonham apologized to
shareholders in the company's annual meeting as he tried to
defend the debt restructuring deal with creditors who were given
over 99.5% control of the company.


MARCONI PLC: Announces Results of Poll at Annual General Meeting
----------------------------------------------------------------
The results of the Poll taken in respect of the Resolutions
passed at the Marconi Annual General Meeting held today, were as
follows:

No.   Description            For                  Against
                             Votes        %        Votes
%

1    To receive the
     Report and  Accounts   320,940,295    97.84    7,072,137
2.16
2    To re-appoint
     Mr Michael
     Donovan as a Director  321,579,383    95.90   13,752,535
4.10
3    To re-appoint
     Mr Allen Thomas as
     a Director             322,760,876    96.25   12,579,220
3.75
4    To re-appoint
     Deloitte & Touche
     as Auditors.           325,053,066    97.04    9,901,401
2.96
5    To authorise
     the Directors to
     determine the
     remuneration of
     the Auditors.          326,655,797    97.41    8,690,633
2.59

Accordingly, the Resolutions were passed by the required
majority.

Mary Skelly
Secretary


PACE MICRO: Pace Vega Gateways Complete SIP Billing
---------------------------------------------------
Pace Vega Gateways Complete SIP Billing & IVR
Interoperability Tests With IVR Technologies
Pace & IVR Technologies Provide Complete End-End VoIP Solution -

VegaStream, part of the Pace Micro Technology group has announced
that its leading-edge Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
gateways will enable even more enhanced IP and real-time billing
services. The announcement follows successful interoperability
tests with the 'Talking SIP' Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and
billing software from IVR Technologies.

Telecommunications operators worldwide are using Pace Vega
gateways to deploy new revenue-generating VoIP services over
existing networks. To protect these new revenue streams, telcos
require advanced real-time billing systems to enable the
'Authentication, Authorisation and Accounting' (AAA) of end-users
before or at the point of using services such as pre-paid calling
cards and 800/900 termination.

Using Pace's Vega gateways with Talking SIP software, end-users
would be able to pay for telecommunication services via a number
of methods including a 'voucher recharge' system or a web-based
self-management system that empowers end-users and reduces the
cost of business overheads for customer service and network
management personnel.

"Pace's integration of 'Talking SIP' and other advanced, SIP-
based billing software systems with Pace Vega 50 and Vega 100
gateways provides a powerful and complete end-to-end solution for
telcos," commented Andy Trott, divisional CEO for Pace. "Telcos
can now deploy award-winning VoIP gateway technology with the
assurance of a built-in, robust billing system for revenue
protection."

The Pace Vega gateways link traditional circuit switched networks
to next generation VoIP networks by converting voice into data
packets for transportation over telecommunications networks using
Internet Protocol (IP). Sending voice as data packets enables
telcos to maximise the capacity of networks and leverage
investment in broadband through new, revenue-rich on-demand
features.

To protect the revenue-generating services that Pace's VoIP
gateways enable, IVR Technologies' system supports an Interactive
Voice Response (IVR) system as well as a real-time call control
for AAA services. 'Talking SIP' allows traffic to originate via
the PSTN over Primary Rate ISDN Interfaces and be authenticated,
authorised and rapidly terminated over an IP network to an IP or
PSTN destination - all with real-time billing, call cut off and
Call Detail Record (CDR) generation.

Over 80 telecommunications companies worldwide are now deploying
or trialing Pace Vega gateways.

VoIP Definition

Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is the method by which voice
is digitized and transmitted over Internet Protocol in digital
packets rather than in the traditional circuit-committed
protocols of the public switched telephone network (PSTN).

About IVR Technologies:
IVR Technologies is an advanced software development company
emerging as a leader in the SIP space for Voice over IP enhanced
services and real-time billing.

About Pace Micro Technology plc
Pace Micro Technology plc (LSE: PIC) is a leader in digital
television technology. The Company's primary focus is the
development of innovative home gateway (set-top box) solutions
for operators, broadcasters, telecommunications companies and
retail markets worldwide. In addition, Pace develops edge of
network devices for service providers, in particular digital IP
voice gateways for low-cost integrated voice and data services.

Pace's head office is in Shipley West Yorkshire, with further
offices in Bracknell, Cambridge, the USA, France and Hong Kong.
For further information, please visit Pace's web site at
http://www.pace.co.uk.

About Vegastream
Vegastream is part of the Pace Micro Technology plc group, with a
mission to develop world beating, low-cost high-performance Voice
over Internet Protocol (VoIP) products based upon international
communications standards.

Pace`s Vega VoIP technology enables Network Operators to benefit
from integrated telephony services that will protect their
investment and enhance their business by providing a 'gateway'
between traditional and 'new world' telecommunications. The
company has received international accolades for its innovative
engineering, resulting in sales to Japan, Finland and the USA

CONTACTS: Helen Kettleborough
          Pace Micro Technology
          Tel: +44 1274 538005
          E-mail: helen.kettleborough@pace.co.uk

          Amanda David
          Pace Micro Technology
          Tel: +44 1274 537093
          E-mail: amanda.david@pace.co.uk
      Website: http://www.pacemircro.uk.co


P&O PRINCESS: Recommendation of Rivals Offer Worries Carnival
-------------------------------------------------------------
Carnival Cruises, the world's largest cruise operator, says it
remains concerned that P&O Princess is continuing to recommend a
bid proposal from Royal Carribean to form a dual listed company,
the Financial Times reports.

In a statement, although P&O Princess' Board states that the
Carnival deal more attractive than the combination with Royal
Carribean, the Board continues to recommend the rival's bid.

The Federal Trade Commission Clearance recently confirmed that it
would not oppose either the DLC combination with Royal Carribean
or Carnival's takeover proposal.

Advisers to Carnival and P&O are scheduled to meet this week to
discuss the specifics of Carnival's bid. Carnival hopes that P&O
Princess would change its recommendation of the rival's bid after
the meeting.

The group wanted to open negotiations with Carnival on the dual
listed company proposal under the terms of an initial agreement
with Royal Carribean that allows talks with rival companies if it
deems them financially superior, says the report.

Carnival was also concerned the move of P&O Princess to find ways
to reduce shareholder approval threshold for acceptance of the
Royal Carribbean offer. The threshold was lowered from 75 to 50%.


P&O PRINCESS: Announces Trading Update
--------------------------------------
As indicated in our press release of 4 October, and in accordance
with the provisions of the Takeover Code, now that the FTC has
announced that it would not oppose both the Royal Caribbean DLC
combination or the Carnival takeover proposal, we are required to
update our 2002 profit forecast.

We are also taking this opportunity to provide a trading update.
We expect to announce our results for the third quarter of 2002
in the week commencing 21 October.

2002 forecast

*  Since the announcement of our second quarter results in July
2002 analysts' estimates for the Group's earnings have increased,
with the majority of analysts now forecasting earnings for 2002
in the range of 42-44 cents per share, before merger related
costs.  We expect the actual result for the full year to be at
the top end of or above this range, with all four quarters of
2002 likely to show year over year increases in earnings per
share

*  2002 sailings are now almost fully booked

*  For the third quarter, we expect yields for the Group as a
whole to be above our previous forecast, showing a decline on a
like for like basis of 5%, with favourable exchange rates
reducing the fall to 2% on an absolute basis

*  We expect Group yields for the fourth quarter to show a year
over year increase, on a like for like basis, of 2% to 3%.  If
exchange rates remain broadly unchanged from today's levels, the
absolute yield performance will be better than these like for
like figures

*  For the year as a whole we now expect the reduction in Group
yields, on a like for like basis, to be in the range of 4% to 5%.
Our previous guidance, given at the time of our second quarter
results, was for a reduction of 5%

*  We expect, for the Group as a whole, a reduction in underlying
unit costs of 8% for the year compared to the target of 7%
indicated at the time of the Q2 results.  Higher fuel costs and
exchange rate movements are expected to offset partially the
underlying reduction in unit costs

Details of the formal profit forecast and the reports on the
forecast by KPMG and Schroder Salomon Smith Barney appear at the
end of this release.

Highlights

*  The Group expects to increase its capacity by 24% in 2003,
before taking account of any delay to the delivery of Diamond
Princess

*  In North America, the Princess brand is expected to grow by
12%; in the UK the P&O Cruises brand is expected to grow by 22%;
and in Germany the AIDA brand is expected to grow by 65%

*  In 2003 we will also commence the operation of the new
contemporary brand, Ocean Village in the United Kingdom and it
will be the first full year of operations of the new A'ROSA
brand in Germany and of the new Pacific Princess premium product
in Australia

*  On September 10, Princess bookings for 2003 sailings as a
percentage of available capacity were in line with the position
for 2002 sailings at the same time a year earlier.  This was
despite the inclusion for 2003 of the capacity on Tahitian and
Pacific Princess for which the programmes had only just been
launched

*  With last year's bookings distorted by the events of September
11, Princess bookings for 2003 are now well ahead of the
equivalent position in 2002. More relevantly cumulative bookings
and the booking pace are in line with what one would expect at
this time in a normal year.  Pricing on current bookings is
slightly below that which prevailed in 2001 prior to the impact
of September 11 but well above the position post September 11

*  In the UK we are on track to accommodate the 22% growth in the
P&O Cruises brand for 2003 with little yield dilution.  At this
early stage it is not possible to discern any trends for the new
brand, Ocean Village

*  Given the much later booking cycle in Germany, it is difficult
at this stage to assess any trends for 2003.  AIDA had a good
2002 and appears well placed to continue its growth in 2003,
although with some weakness in the winter months.  The one ship
A'ROSA brand is having a difficult introduction and remains
behind our expectations

*  The Pacific Princess premium product has been well received in
the Australian market and the Pacific Sky continues to do well

*  We expect to continue to achieve reductions in underlying unit
costs in 2003, with these likely to be more in line with the
original business plan of 2% per annum, rather than the 5%
achieved in 2001 or the 8% forecast for 2002

P&O Princess Chief Executive Officer, Peter Ratcliffe commented:

'We today released a new profit forecast for 2002 which we are
pleased to report is an improvement on our previous guidance.
This improvement is a result of both improved revenues and
greater unit cost reductions.

'We expect to report increased earnings in each of the five
quarters following the events of September 11 2001; a performance
which we believe is matched by few other major companies in the
vacation industry.

'Notwithstanding the current economic and political uncertainties
we remain positive about our prospects for 2003 and are pleased
that our booking pace and pricing appears to have recovered from
the impact of September 11.

'We expect that our new ships with their industry leading number
of balconies, and our strong brand positions in the three largest
vacation markets in the world will have a positive impact on our
2003 performance.'

P&O Princess

P&O Princess Cruises plc is a leading international cruise
company with some of the strongest cruising brand names: Princess
Cruises in North America; P&O Cruises, Swan Hellenic and Ocean
Village in the UK; AIDA and A'ROSA in Germany; and P&O Cruises in
Australia.  It is a leading provider of cruises to Alaska, the
Caribbean, Europe, the Panama Canal and other Exotic
destinations.  The current complement of 19 ships and two river
boats offering 31,130 berths is set to grow in the next two years
with six new ocean cruise ships and two river boats on order.

P&O Princess Cruises has approximately 20,000 employees worldwide
and carried over one million passengers in 2001, generating a
revenue of approximately $2.5 billion (approximately o1.7
billion). Headquartered in London, P&O Princess Cruises' ordinary
shares are quoted on the London Stock Exchange and as ADSs on the
New York Stock Exchange (under the symbol 'POC').

The directors of P&O Princess accept responsibility for the
information
contained in this announcement.  To the best of the knowledge and
belief of the directors of P&O Princess (who have taken all
reasonable care to ensure that such is the case), the information
contained herein for which they accept responsibility is in
accordance with the facts and does not omit anything likely to
affect the import of such information.

Salomon Brothers International Limited, trading as Schroder
Salomon Smith Barney ('Schroder Salomon Smith Barney') is acting
for P&O Princess and no one else in connection with the matters
referred to herein and will not be responsible to any other
person for providing the protections afforded to clients of
Schroder Salomon Smith Barney or for providing advice in relation
to the matters referred to herein.

'Schroder' is a trademark of Schroder Holdings PLC and is used
under licence by Salomon Brothers International Limited.

Details of trading update

North America

Whilst it is early days for bookings for 2003 sailings, with the
full year only some 25% booked, bookings at this time are in line
with a normal year and in line with our expectations.  Pricing
for current bookings is slightly below the levels that were being
achieved in 2001 prior to the events of September 11, although
they are well above the rates that prevailed after those events.

The booking pace is showing remarkable resilience in the face of
the continuing economic and political uncertainty with the
exception of certain slowness in the pace of bookings for the two
ships scheduled to be in the Mediterranean next summer. We
believe that the pace of bookings has been favourably impacted by
the introduction of the new Coral, Island, Diamond, Pacific, and
Tahitian Princess' which, when they all are delivered, will
increase the proportion of balconies in the Princess fleet to 52%
of total cabins, well above industry competitors.

As previously reported, the Diamond Princess has suffered major
fire damage whilst under construction in the Nagasaki shipyard of
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The full extent of the damage will
take some time to assess and at this stage it is not possible to
determine the extent of any delay to the scheduled delivery date
of May 31 2003 although it will clearly be significant.  However,
P&O Princess has in place contractual arrangements with the yard
and insurance arrangements that it believes, irrespective of the
length of any delay in delivery, should ensure that there will be
no significant adverse economic impact on the Group, nor any
material impact on 2003 profits.

The two 688 lower berth former Renaissance Cruises vessels,
recently acquired and renamed Pacific Princess and Tahitian
Princess, have been well received and are booking strongly.

United Kingdom

In 2003 the UK division is planning an increase in capacity of
41%. Over the next 7 months, the P&O Cruises brand will receive
Ocean Princess and SeaPrincess from Princess Cruises and rename
them Oceana and Adonia.  In addition, Victoria will be retired
and Arcadia will be transferred to the new Ocean Village brand,
giving a net growth for the P&O Cruises brand of 22%. A former
Renaissance Cruises vessel, to be renamed Minerva II, has been
taken on long term charter and will be introduced into the Swan
Hellenic brand to replace the existing Minerva in April 2003.

Although at an early stage, bookings and pricing for P&O Cruises
and Swan Hellenic are on track to accommodate the growth in
capacity without any material reduction in pricing.  Initial
bookings for P&O Cruises' summer 2003 programme are particularly
encouraging.  For winter 2002/3 the booking position for Round
World cruises is sound whilst pricing in the fly cruise market to
the Caribbean for winter 2002/3 is under some pressure. We
believe the booking pace has benefited from the fact that the
four 'white sisters' ships of P&O Cruises, Oriana (built in
1995), Aurora (2000), Oceana (2000) and Adonia (1998), all with
1,800 - 2,000 berths and with an average of 35% of their cabins
having balconies, comprise the most modern cruise fleet in Europe
today.

Ocean Village has been well received in the market place,
although it is too early in the booking cycle of this 'fun in the
sun' type of product to evaluate any meaningful trends.

Germany

The booking cycle in Germany is much closer to sailing than is
the case for the P&O Cruises and Princess Cruises brands and
therefore there is still some way to go for 2002 and there are
insufficient bookings at this time to enable any guidance to be
given for 2003.

Our German business as a whole is expected to expand its capacity
by 70% in 2003 following its 88% expansion in 2002. These rates
of growth result from the increase of capacity to four ships to
service two brands in what is an underdeveloped cruising market
in the second largest vacation market in the world.

The 'club ship' AIDA brand continues to operate well and is
absorbing the growth as planned, and is doing so profitably. The
A'ROSA brand, with one 1,600 berth ocean going ship, is taking
more time to establish itself than we had hoped. This brand
appears to have been more affected by the general weakness in
German overseas destination travel.  On the other hand, the two
Danube riverboats which also operate under the A'ROSA brand, with
a third scheduled to be delivered in 2003, performed well in
their first year.

Australia

Bookings and pricing for 2003 sailings on Pacific Sky are broadly
in line with the equivalent position in 2002. The new premium
product on Pacific Princess is being well received in the
Australian marketplace for its first six-month secondment from
Princess for the Southern Hemisphere summer.

New Ships

P&O Princess remains favourably disposed to adding further new
ships to the Princess brand for delivery in 2005 and beyond and
is actively examining a number of attractive commercial
opportunities to do so.

Costs

In 2001 we reduced Group underlying unit costs by 5%, with a
reduction of 8% forecast for 2002. These savings have been
achieved through a combination of the introduction of large, new,
cost efficient ships, economies of scale as the business has
grown, and through an increased management focus on costs
following the demerger from the P&O Group in 2000.

Looking forward to 2003, further unit cost savings can be
anticipated.  The newly built ships being delivered will bring
down unit costs, although this benefit will be partly offset by
the higher unit operating costs of the three smaller former
Renaissance Cruises ships joining the fleet (including the
chartered vessel for Swan Hellenic).  Capital costs per berth
will rise with the introduction of the new ships, offset by the
very low capital cost per berth of the two former Renaissance
ships that have been acquired.

Benefits from economies of scale, particularly in overhead, will
contribute to lower unit costs in 2003.  The build up of overhead
and promotion in the UK ahead of and during the significant
increase in capacity, including the launch of the new brand, will
put some upward pressure on costs.  Against this the comparison
to the prior year will be assisted because unit overhead and
promotion costs in Germany were above normal levels in 2002 due
to the expansion there.

Overall, 2003 budgets and operating plans are being prepared on
the basis of underlying cost reductions more in line with the
annual reduction target of 2% set two years ago.  This target
covers ship operating costs together with overhead and promotion
costs, thereby covering all costs between net revenue and EBITDA,
but excludes the effects of changes in the price of fuel or
exchange rates.

Market position

The company's position has continued to strengthen during the
year. We have increased net earnings in each of the three
quarters reported on after the events of September 11 and expect
to do so for the remaining two quarters of this year, an
achievement matched by few other major companies in the vacation
industry.

Since its demerger from the P&O Group, in October 2000, the
company has succeeded in significantly reducing its cost
structure with unit cost reductions, excluding fuel and exchange
rate movements, of 13% in two years. We anticipate further
although more moderate decreases next year. This has been
achieved without impacting the satisfaction levels of our
passengers or our operating standards for which all our employees
deserve tremendous credit.

The company has an industry leading array of consumer brands with
leading brands in the United Kingdom, Germany and Australian
markets and in the premium segment of North American market. We
have also recently launched two new brands and introduced a new
product: the contemporary Ocean Village brand in the United
Kingdom, the premium A'ROSA brand in Germany, and the Pacific
Princess premium product in Australia. By supplementing our
existing brands, these new brands will enable us to provide a
full range of products catering to a wide variety of consumer
tastes in these three countries.

The company's fleet continues to improve in quality with the
delivery of new ships and the disposal of the fleet's five older
ships in recent years. The company has the most modern fleet in
the United Kingdom, German and Australian markets and in North
America will have a very innovative and modern fleet with an
industry leading number of balcony cabins amounting to over 50%
of its total cabins by the summer of 2003.

We are operating in an industry that is growing and globalising.
Our own market research confirms that cruising should continue to
increase its share of the total vacation market in our three main
theatres of operation namely the United States, the United
Kingdom and Germany - the three largest vacation markets in the
world.

The Board wishes to take this opportunity to thank all the
company's employees for all their commitment and expertise in
making the company as successful as it now is.

Appendix

2002 Profit Forecast

The Directors forecast that for the year ending 31 December 2002
P&O Princess' basic earnings per share under UK GAAP will be at
the top end of or above the range of 42 to 44 cents per share.

Bases of preparation

This profit forecast is based upon the published unaudited
interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2002 (see
below), unaudited management accountsfor the two months ended 31
August 2002 and forecast results for the four months ending 31
December 2002.

This profit forecast has been prepared using the UK GAAP
accounting policies normally adopted by P&O Princess and, in
relation to the Group's new accounting policy for deferred tax
arising from adoption of Financial Reporting Standard 19, as set
out in the 2002 interim statement.

No account has been taken of the financial consequences of
completion of either the proposed merger with Royal Caribbean or
the proposed takeover by Carnival. Also no account has been taken
of the costs that would still be incurred if neither transaction
is completed which the Directors estimate would be approximately
$55 million, not including any break fees payable to Royal
Caribbean.

Assumptions

Assumptions for factors outside the influence of the Directors:

There will be no major disruptions to the business from natural
disasters, ship operating incidents, wars and other hostilities,
or other third party actions

There will be no material adverse change in the legal,
governmental, regulatory or taxation environment that applies to
P&O Princess' business

There will be no significant change in interest rates, exchange
rates or fuel prices from those prevailing at the present time

Any insurance recoveries subsequent to the recent fire on Diamond
Princess, the vessel under construction in Nagasaki, will fall to
be credited to the 2003 results not the 2002 results

To view summarised group profit and loss account for the three
months and six months ended 30 June 2002, refer to this link:


Set out below is the text of a letter from KPMG relating to the
Profit
Forecast:

The Directors
P&O Princess Cruises plc
77 New Oxford Street
London WC1A 1PP

The Directors
Salomon Brothers International Limited
trading as Schroder Salomon Smith Barney
Citigroup Centre
33 Canada Square, Canary Wharf
London E14 5LB

8 October 2002


Dear Sirs

P&O Princess Cruises plc

We have reviewed the accounting policies and calculations for the
forecast of basic earnings per share of P&O Princess Cruises plc
and its subsidiary undertakings for the year ending 31 December
2002 set out in an appendix to P&O Princess' announcement dated 8
October 2002 . The Directors are solely responsible for the
forecast.

The forecast includes results shown by published unaudited
interim management accounts for the six months ended 30 June 2002
and by unaudited management accounts for the two months ended 31
August 2002.

We conducted our work in accordance with Statements of Investment
Circular Reporting Standards issued by the Auditing Practices
Board.

In our opinion the forecast, so far as the accounting policies
and calculations are concerned, has been properly compiled on the
basis of the assumptions made by the directors set out in the
announcement and is presented on a basis consistent with the
accounting policies normally adopted by P&O Princess.

The above opinion is provided solely on the basis of and in
accordance with practice established in the United Kingdom.  In
the United States, reporting standards and practice are different
and the role of the reporting accountant does not provide for the
expression of an opinion with respect to a forecast of
attributable profit except in the context of minimum presentation
guidelines with which the profit forecast presented herein does
not comply.  Consequently, under United States practice and
standards, we are unable to express any opinion with respect to
the profit forecast.

The work we have carried out on the forecast is solely for the
purposes of reporting to the Directors of the Company and hence
to the existing members of the Company, and to the directors of
Salomon Brothers International Limited, trading as Schroder
Salomon Smith Barney.  As a result, we assume no responsibility
to any offeror in respect of or arising out of or in connection
with our work on the forecast.

Yours sincerely

KPMG Audit Plc

Set out below is the text of a letter from Schroder Salomon Smith
Barney relating to the Profit Forecast:

Schroder Salomon Smith Barney
Citigroup Centre
Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London E14 5LB

8 October 2002

The Directors
P&O Princess Cruises plc
77 New Oxford Street
London WC1A 1PP

Dear Sirs,

We have discussed the profit forecast and the basis and
assumptions on which ithas been prepared with you as directors of
P&O Princess Cruises  plc.  We have also discussed the accounting
policies and calculations
for the profit forecast with KPMG Audit plc, P&O Princess's
auditors, and we have considered their letter of today's date
addressed to yourselves on this matter.

On the basis of the foregoing, we consider that the profit
forecast referred to above, for which you as directors are solely
responsible, has been compiled with due care and consideration by
the directors.

Yours faithfully,
for and on behalf of
Salomon Brothers International Limited

Ian Hart
Managing Director

Salomon Brothers International Limited

Registered Office: Citigroup Centre, Canada Square, Canary Wharf,
London E14
5LB
Registered in England
Registered Number 1763297
Regulated by the FSA

CONTACT: P&O Princess Cruises plc
         Tel: +44 20 7805 1214
         Caroline Keppel-Palmer
         Tel: +44 7730 732015

WORLDCOM INC.: Proposes Uniform Mutual Debt Setoff Procedures
-------------------------------------------------------------
Alfredo R. Perez, Esq., at Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, in New
York, recounts that the Utilities Order requires Worldcom Inc.,
its debtor-affiliates and the Utility Companies to negotiate in
good faith to establish procedures for the mutual setoff of
payments for prepetition services and for the mutual setoff of
payments for postpetition services.

The terms of the proposed Prepetition Setoff Procedures and the
Postpetition Setoff Procedures with respect to setoffs by Utility
Companies that are both creditors and debtors of WorldCom are:

A. No Utility Company may file any motion with the Court seeking
authorization to effectuate a prepetition setoff, and the Debtors
will not seek to compel a Utility Company to pay prepetition
amounts due to the Debtors that have been withheld based upon a
good faith assertion that the amounts are subject to the right of
setoff against the Debtors, without first complying with the
following Prepetition Setoff
Procedures;

B. Any Utility Company seeking to accomplish a prepetition setoff
should send written notice to the Debtors addressed to:

Robert W. Rodrigues, Esq.
WorldCom, Inc.
1133 Nineteenth Street, Washington, DC 20036
Phone: (202) 736-6865 Fax: (202) 736-6471
E-mail:robert.w.rodrigues@wcom.com mail:robert.w.rodrigues@wcom.com>

with a copy to:

Alfredo R. Perez, Esq.
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
700 Louisiana, Suite 1600, Houston, Texas 77002
Phone: (713) 546-5000 Fax: (713) 224-9511
E-mail:alfredo.perez@weil.com mail:alfredo.perez@weil.com>

-and-

Christopher Marcus, Esq.
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
767 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10153
Phone: (212) 310-8000 Fax: (212) 310-8007
E-mail:christopher.marcus@weil.com mail:christopher.marcus@weil.com>

C. If the Debtors seek to compel a Utility Company to make
payment of prepetition amounts due that have been withheld on
account of prepetition claims against the Debtors, they
should send the Initial Notice to the applicable Utility
Company, with a copy to any counsel that has filed a notice
of appearance in these cases on behalf of the Utility
Company;

D. The Initial Notice should contain this information for each
claim potentially subject to setoff:

-- Identification of the legal entity on each side of the
transaction;

-- A concise statement of the prepetition amounts alleged to
be owed to and from the Debtors;

-- Identification of the specific contract or agreement
pursuant to which the alleged prepetition amounts are
owed, including any account number or other identifying
information for the account in question; and

-- Contact information for a person with settlement authority
to resolve the matter;

E. Not later than 20 business days after service of the Initial
Notice, the counterparties should participate in a mandatory
settlement conference, either in person or by telephone. The
settlement conference should be attended by representatives of
the Utility Company and the Debtors who have settlement authority
to resolve the matter. The purpose of the settlement conference
will be to determine if agreement can be reached on the amount of
any prepetition setoff, or to
determine whether additional information is required. If mutually
agreed upon by the parties, the settlement  conference may
consist of a series of actual meetings or telephonic conferences.
If an additional exchange of information is required, the
counterparties should make good faith efforts to provide each
other with the information as the other reasonably requests
within 10 business days of the settlement conference, and should
convene a follow-up conference within 20 business days of the
initial conference;

F. If the counterparties reach agreement with respect to any
prepetition setoff, the Debtors should file with the Court a
summary notice setting forth the essential terms of the agreement
reached, including the amount of the setoff to be effected and
the amount of the payment, if any, to be made to the Debtors. The
Notice of Setoff should be served on:

-- the United States Trustee;
-- counsel for the statutory committee of unsecured
creditors;
-- counsel for the Debtors' postpetition lenders; and
-- counsel for the applicable Utility Company.

If no objection is received within 7 days of filing and service
of the Notice of Setoff, the applicable Utility Company may
effect the setoff without further order of the Court and should,
within 3 business days, pay to the Debtors any net prepetition
amounts due and owing to the Debtors after application of the
setoff. If a timely objection is received, the Debtors will set
the matter for hearing on a regularly-scheduled hearing date and
serve notice of the hearing in accordance with the Court's order
dated July 29, 2002, establishing notice procedures. If no
response or objection to the Notice of Setoff is timely filed,
the Notice of Setoff will have the effect of a final order of the
Court approving a stipulated settlement of the setoff;

G. If, after an initial settlement conference and, to the extent
applicable, a follow-up conference, the Debtors and a Utility
Company are unable to reach agreement with respect to a
prepetition setoff, either counterparty may file a motion with
the Court seeking appropriate relief; and
H. Nothing herein will be deemed to grant any Utility Company the
right to setoff any postpetition amounts owing to the Debtors
against any prepetition amounts owed by the Debtors or to
eliminate the requirement of mutuality in order to assert a right
of setoff.

According to Mr. Perez, it is the Debtors' intention to remain
current on payments to all Utility Companies for postpetition
services. The Debtors likewise expect that Utility Companies who
are postpetition debtors of WorldCom will remain current on all
of their payments to WorldCom.
In the event of a postpetition billing dispute between the
Debtors and any Utility Company, or any other circumstance giving
rise to an alleged right of setoff with respect to postpetition
obligations, the counterparties to the dispute will attempt to
resolve the dispute in accordance with the Prepetition Setoff
Procedures, except that no Notice of Setoff or Court approval
will be required if the counterparties are able to reach
agreement with respect to a postpetition setoff. (Worldcom
Bankruptcy News, Issue No. 9; Bankruptcy Creditors' Service,
Inc., 609/392-0900).

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

       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,
Larri-Nil Veloso, Ma. Cristina Canson and Jean Claire Dy,
Editors.

Copyright 2002.  All rights reserved.  ISSN 1529-2754.

This material is copyrighted and any commercial use, resale or
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