Ambient Sound Investments, an Estonian investment company established by four founding engineers of Skype, is shopping around for hot technology companies in Lithuania. ASI last year bought a stake in one Lithuanian company'sEuropos Telemetrijos Servisas (European Telemetry Service)'s and has said this number may rise to five or six. ASI differs from other investment funds in that it has no strict rules'sthe four partners themselves assess projects and strategies. The firm is specifically interested in technology start-ups.
Alro Media, a U.S.-equity company, purchased Lithuania's regional newspaper, Kupiskio Zinios. The value of the transaction was not disclosed. The first issue of Kupiskio Zinios, redesigned and with color pictures, hit the newsstands June 23. In May Alro Media bought that a controlling interest in Panevezio Balsas, the regional newspaper of Panevezys.
The Finnish meat-packing group Atria said it would close its Lithuanian unit by the end of August and concentrate its Baltic production at the Valga facility in Estonia. Atria's operations in Lithuania are loss-making, and the company's market share, at less than 3 percent, is too small, the company said. Some 140 people will lose their jobs at the Vilnius plant as a result of the closure. Atria is considering selling the property.
