Rokiskio Suris obtained a European Commission license for exports to Russia and the United States, making it the first dairy among new EU member states to obtain such a license. The license gives the company eligibility to receive a subsidy of 220 euros per ton of cheese sold in the United States and a subsidy of 750 euros per ton of cheese sold in Russia. Subsidies will be applicable to 700 tons of cheese exports to each country. Production manager Dalius Trumpa said the company expected to export 3,000 - 4,000 tons of cheese to Russia this year, while exports to the United States should be lower.
MicroLink, the Baltic states' leading IT company, signed a contract to implement additional SAP system modules for production planning, business analysis and strategic corporate management at Lithuania's TV-tube plant Ekranas. Though the value of the contract is being withheld, MicroLink said it would start implementing additional SAP modules at Ekranas this autumn and complete the implementation toward the end of 2005. In 2000 Ekranas became the first Lithuanian company to start using the SAP business resource management system.
The ProKapital real estate group said it planned to carry out a major development project in the Kliversala area on the right bank of the Daugava River near Old Town Riga worth 180 million euros. The company wants to develop the 5.7 hectare territory as a residential area with several office building and top-class hotels, Board Chairman Vittorio Michelozzi told the Dienas Bizness newspaper. The 180 million - 200 million euro project will be implemented in several phases within 7-8 years depending on the market situation. The first round will involve the reconstruction and renovation of a Soviet-era building as well as construction of one of the two 24-story apartment buildings planned.
Lithuania's IKI retail group announced that it has hired Sindicatum, a London-based corporate finance firm, to help raise some 50 million euros to finance its expansion plans. Aidas Mackevicius, CEO of Palink, which operates the IKI supermarket chain, said that the group hoped to attract foreign investors. Palink, which has an authorized share capital of 10 million litas (2.9 million euros), is controlled by Baltisches Haus, a member of the IKI Group. The Belgian investors who own Baltisches Haus intend to keep a majority stake in the IKI Group following the 50 million euro equity increase.
The Eesti Energia (Estonian Energy) utility company will have a 39.9 percent holding in AS Nordic Energy Link, the company set up for the construction of an undersea power cable between Estonia and Finland. Latvenergo and Lietuvos Energija are to have 25 percent holding each, while the project's Finnish partners, Helsingin Energia and Pohjolan Voima, will have 10.1 percent. Nordic Energy Link, an Estonian company with capital of 2 million kroons (128,000 euros), will finance the 110 million euro cable through external sources.
Lithuanian drug retailer Litfarma, formerly a wholesaler, said it planned to focus on creating a new drugstore chain, Litfarma Vaistine, that will have turnover in excess of 20 million litas (5.8 million euros) for 2004. Litfarma currently owns 10 drugstores in several cities and in the near future will open five new ones. "We will spare no investments in the expansion of the chain in order to secure the chain's turnover in excess of 20 million litas this year," Aurimas Mickus, company CEO, said.
