Lithuania's LTOU weighs Latvia's formal offer to acquire airBaltic stake

VILNIUS - Lietuvos Oro Uostai (Lithuanian Airports, LTOU), Lithuania's state-owned airport operator, has confirmed that it has received an offer from the Latvian government to acquire a stake in the Latvian national airline airBaltic, LTOU told BNS on Thursday, adding that an initial assessment of the bid is still underway.

"We can confirm that LTOU has already received a more detailed offer for Lithuania to acquire shares in airBaltic. The initial analysis of the proposal is currently underway and we will present the results to the Transport and Communications Ministry," Tadas Vasiliauskas, a representative of LTOU, told BNS.

He refrained to disclose the specific conditions offered by the Latvian company.

Meanwhile, Estonia has already said it has no intention to buy a stake in airBaltic, but does not rule out dosing so later.

Estonian Infrastructure Minister Kuldar Leis said on Thursday that Latvia had offered Estonia to buy a stake on the same terms as it offered Lithuania and Germany's Lufthansa, which is up to 10 percent for EUR 14 million.

According to Vasiliauskas, specific timelines regarding a decision and further comments on the possibility to acquire airBaltic shares could be provided by representatives of the Ministry of Transport and Communications or the government.

Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas told BNS in June that LTOU would first have to assess Latvia's proposal and come to a conclusion on whether or not it was worth doing so.

LTOU underlines that airBaltic has been Lithuania's strategically important air transport partner for many years, adding that it has recently expanded its operations and is one of the leading companies in terms of passenger traffic.

On June 18, the Latvian Ministry of Transport said it would send formal proposals to Lithuania and Estonia for their possible airBaltic shareholding, together with Lufthansa Group, ahead of the planned IPO expected later this year.