Czech Republic

Bondholders of bankrupt Czech lottery firm Sazka are demanding changes to its sale conditions, which they say will put off buyers and therefore won't maximise returns, the investors' law firm said on Monday. Dewey & LeBoeuf said it represented investors holding more than 25 percent of Sazka's outstanding 195 million secured amortising bond due in 2021.

A Czech court gave the go-ahead on Wednesday to the planned sale of national lottery firm Sazka in a tender, court documents showed. The ruling means the receiver at Sazka, which was put into insolvency in March, can start the tender within days, Reuters reported. The receiver, Josef Cupka, told reporters on Wednesday that price would be the only criterion in the tender. The sale will be open to anyone who places a 500 million crowns ($29.6 million) deposit.

The court administrator for ECM Real Estate Investments has recommended bankruptcy for the insolvent Czech developer, a document on the Prague Municipal Court's website showed on Tuesday, Reuters reported. ECM and several creditors have pushed for a reorganisation that would allow the company to continue operations, and will decide on the bankruptcy at the next creditor meeting this week. ECM shares fell 8.3 percent on Tuesday to 28.71 crowns, its lowest since the Prague Municipal Court declared ECM insolvent in May.

The Czech Republic's lottery company, Sazka, has been forced into the Czech equivalent of Chapter 11 by its main creditors after shareholders refused to agree to restructuring and a management change, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Sazka has been on life support since the beginning of the year when it failed to meet terms on its Eurobonds issue amid accusations that its chairman deliberately acted against the company's interests.

The principal creditors voted on Friday to send Czech national lottery and betting firm Sazka into bankruptcy following clashes with the company's management that scuppered an agreement on a reorganisation, a spokeswoman for the Prague Municipal Court said, Reuters reported. Sazka fell into deep debt after building a 17,000-seat arena for the 2004 ice hockey world championship. Registered claims against the company are about 10 billion crowns ($579 million). Bankruptcy means the firm will be taken over by a receiver and its assets sold.

The Prague Municipal Court declared Czech developer ECM insolvent on Tuesday and the stock exchange halted trading in the firm's shares, Reuters reported. The developer, which builds mainly in the Czech capital, filed for insolvency on May 17 and proposed reorganisation. The court said it would decide on the reorganisation plan within three months, the filing said. The company accumulated debt as an economic downturn pounded the construction and development sector which only began to recover this year in the Czech Republic.

Czech developer ECM Real Estate Investments filed for insolvency on Tuesday and proposed reorganisation, Reuters reported. The firm, building mainly in the Czech capital Prague, has suffered heavy losses in the global economic crisis over the past two years. ECM said the proposal was in line with the results so far of talks with unsecured creditors. "This step should allow for a faster implementation of some intended transactions and better coordination of negotiations with creditors," the company said.

The bankruptcy receiver of Czech lottery firm Sazka said on Thursday he had accepted debt claims from creditors worth 14.7 billion czech crowns ($859 million), including bonds and a number of bank loans, Reuters reported. Sazka, the largest Czech lottery firm, became insolvent in March after failing to pay back debt it racked up mostly when building a sports arena in Prague in 2004. The recognised claims include Sazka's bonds worth 200 million euros.

The Czech Constitutional Court's ruling to strike down legislation that would reduce state support for consumer savings in home-building bank accounts amounts to judicial activism and the court's venture into politics, Czech President Vaclav Klaus said, The Wall Street Journal reported. "Today's decision by the Constitutional Court clearly demonstrates that the court is operating outside the constitution and has entered the sphere of politics," Mr. Klaus told local media late Wednesday.

Two of the biggest bondholders of insolvent Czech betting company Sazka have asked for an early repayment of its bonds due in 2021 worth a nominal 203 million euros ($292 million), their representatives said on Friday, Reuters reported. Sazka, the biggest lottery operator in the Czech market, was declared insolvent last month and a court appointed a preliminary creditors' committee.