VILNIUS - The subsidiary swap deal between the Alna and Sonex groups, Lithuania's largest IT companies, has come across unexpected hurdles due to differences in opinions among shareholders of both companies, unofficial sources reported this week.
Arunas Bartusevicius, owner of the Sonex Group, said on June 14 that the high-profile deal had run into difficulties.
"We have encountered certain problems. Both large and small scale," he said.
Asked about the outcome of the deal, Bartusevicius could not confirm that it would take place eventually.
Tomas Milaknis, Alna CEO, refused to comment on the situation, noting that the deal had not been finalized.
"There are a number of issues. The process is particularly complicated. It is difficult to make any forecasts concerning the timeframe of its closure," Milaknis said.
Alna intended to take over the business solution and programming business of Sonex, while the Sonex Group was to take over the IT infrastructure solution business of Alna.
Under the terms of the swap, Alna was to buy 100 percent of shares in each of Sonex's two subsidiaries, Sonex Sistemos (Sonex Systems) and Softex Latvia, and the Sonex Group was to take over 100 percent of Alnos Infrastrukturos Sprendimai (Alna Infrastructure Solutions), a company recently set up by Alna.
The goal of the subsidiary swap was for each company to become leader in its respective field throughout the Baltic countries.
The Sonex Group, which has operations in all three Baltic countries and Belarus, reported a pretax profit of 7 million litas (2 million euros) for 2003, up by 34.6 percent from 2002. The group's consolidated revenues grew by 32.4 percent to 192 million litas last year.
Arunas Bartusevicius, chairman of the Sonex Group's management board, holds 64 percent of the Sonex Group's stock. The European Bank for Reconstruction of Development controls a 36 percent stake through the fund manager Scandinavian Baltic Development.
Alna posted a pretax profit of 2.9 million litas for 2003, down from 15.6 million litas in 2002. The group's consolidated revenues reached 110 million litas, down 5.8 percent from 2002.
The combined turnover of Sonex Sistemos and Softex Latvija reached approximately 14 million litas last year. The turnover of Alna Infrastrukturos Sprendimai, which split from Alna this year, is expected to make up about 35 million litas in 2004.
Valentinas Milaknis, a former economy minister, owned 71 percent of Alna's stock as of late October 2003. The EBRD holds a stake of around 14 percent.
