Railtrack ‘suing Marconi for £20m’

Beleaguered telecoms group Marconi is set to come under further pressure, after it emerged that Railtrack is to sue it for £20m (€32.6m).

Railtrack Group claims it is owed for shares in Easynet, an Internet service provider of which Marconi owns 72%.

A weekend newspaper report said Railtrack’s telecoms subsidiary owns 3% of Easynet and says it is owed the money after exercising a put option - the right to sell the shares at a pre-arranged price when the market value is expected to fall at the beginning of the year.

It says Marconi had to buy back the shares under the option but refused buying the stake would cost Marconi another £20 million for a holding worth just £3m (€4.9m) at today’s valuation.

A spokeswoman for Railtrack Group said: ‘‘Marconi owe us £20 million (€32.6 million).’’

She said the group had a put option to sell the stake in Easynet.

‘‘We exercised three-fifths of that in June and reported in our interim results a profit of £27.5m (€44.8m) on that. Then we had the opportunity to exercise the other two-fifths in February which should be worth about £20 million but so far Marconi hasn’t paid us for it. We have taken the first step in legal action towards getting our £20 million.’’

She continued: ‘‘Railtrack Telecom Services has taken this step to protect its position given the conditions in the telecoms market.

‘‘Railtrack Group is in discussions with Marconi and hopes to resolve this issue amicably.’’

A spokesman for Marconi said: ‘‘Marconi will file a defence and counter suit against Railtrack over a separate issue.’’

The action is further bad news for Marconi, which is saddled with debts of around £3bn (€4.9bn). Last month the group saw its shares collapse after warning it had failed to secure a crucial bank deal.

Railtrack Group is the holding company for the track operator. The operating arm was forced into administration by Stephen Byers last year. Railtrack Group itself is not in administration.