VILNIUS - The Achema chemical consortium led the business headlines last week on announcement that it had bought a stake in a Lithuanian TV channel and participated in a winning bid for a shipyard in Klaipeda.
The Respublika daily reported on June 29 that Poland's Telewizja Polsat, the owner of TV4, had agreed to sell a stake in TV4 to Achema.
Unofficial sources told the daily that the TV channel would be headed by Michailas Garberis, 53, who resigned as CEO of Radiocentras, a radio station controlled by the group.
Virginija Dunauskiene, Achema Group's spokeswoman, confirmed to the daily that Garberis, who led Radiocentras since 2000, had handed in his resignation, while TV4 staff said that the new channel director was introduced officially on June 28.
However, Czeslaw Okinchic, Polsat's adviser, denied the speculations about the sale of TV4.
The Achema Group made active attempts to penetrate the media market recently. The concern controls several commercial radio stations, the printing house Titnagas and the Lietuvos Zinios daily.
Meanwhile, a consortium including Achema and Eika, one of Lithuania's biggest real estate developers, won a bid for the state's 70.01 percent stake in Klaipedos Laivu Remontas (Klaipeda Shipyard, or KLR), unofficial sources said on June 23.
The State Property Fund confirmed that the privatization tender commission opened financial offers and selected a Lithuanian legal entity as the winning bidder. However, in accordance with practice, the agency would not publicize the name of the winning bidder until a purchase deal was signed.
With a minimum selling price of 4 million litas (1.1 million euros), the Eika and Achema consortium outbid its only competitor, the real estate developer Hanner, for the majority stake in KLR, which provides repairing and maintenance services for medium-sized ships, cruise vessels and yachts.
The investor will have to commit to investing at least 30 million litas in KLR over a period of five years, of which 10 million litas is to be invested in the first two years and 20 million litas in the remaining three years.
Eika and Achema are expected to implement a plan for converting the seven-hectare grounds of KLR into a service, entertainment and recreation complex with retail stores, restaurants, hotels and other tourist infrastructure.
Achema is part of the Achema Group, which is controlled by Bronislovas Lubys, president of Lithuania's Confederation of Industrialists, an influential lobbyist group. The group also controls KLASCO, one of the biggest stevedoring companies in the port of Klaipeda, and holds a 51 percent stake in Kroviniu Terminalas (Cargo Terminal), another stevedoring company.
Eika is engaged in the construction of residential buildings, offices and shopping centers in Vilnius and Klaipeda. The company expects to raise its annual revenues to 60 million litas this year, from 49.2 million litas in 2003.
