Press Release of Intertainment AG
Annual General Meeting of Intertainment AG
First witness cross-examinations in the arbitration proceeding against Co-merica
Bank look likely to start at the end of September
Munich, September 13, 2005 –
Intertainment AG, Munich, continues to be optimistic about receiving
compensation for the damage sustained from the budget fraud per-petrated by US
filmmaker Franchise Pictures and other parties. In this connection,
Intertainment is taking three approaches, explained Intertainment Board Member
Achim Gerlach at the company’s Annual General Meeting. Intertainment is focusing
on the existing claims arising from the trial for damages against Franchise
Pictures, former CEO Elie Samaha and against 16 other companies, where a
favorable verdict was obtained in the USA in June 2004. In this context,
Intertainment is pursuing its claims within the framework of the Franchise
insolvency proceeding and through en-forcement measures taken against Samaha
personally. Intertainment is assuming that it will receive part of the amount
awarded for damages from Franchise Pictures and Elie Samaha, emphasized Gerlach.
The company is expecting additional cash flows from the arbitration proceeding
against Comerica Bank and executives of the bank currently pending in the USA.
This is the second proceeding in connection with the budget fraud. Intertainment
filed a suit against Comerica Bank for compensation for damages amounting to at
least 100 million dollars. The arbitration proceeding is currently in the
discovery phase. Gerlach explained that there is no fixed deadline for the
conclusion of this phase. He reported that initial cross-examinations of
witnesses would be held at the end of Sep-tember or the beginning of October,
even if the discovery phase has not yet been concluded at that point. The actual
oral hearing before the court of arbitration will only commence after the
discovery phase and witness cross-examinations have been completed.
Gerlach drew the attention of the Annual General Meeting to the fact that the
litiga-tion in the USA has exerted a strong negative impact on Intertainment. At
the end of the first half year 2005, Intertainment only had liquid assets
amounting to 0.4 million euros. He continued by saying that the situation had
been eased by the conclusion of a film deal with the Tele München Group
amounting to 2.6 million euros at the end of August 2005.
End of the Press Release
Contact:
Intertainment AG, Investor Relations, Frauenplatz 7, 80331 Munich, Germany;
Telephone: +49 (0)89 21699-0, Fax: +49 (0)89 21699-11,
Internet: www.intertainment.de, E-Mail: investor@intertainment.de