VP Market may take owners of Domina to court

  • 2006-02-01
  • From wire reports
VILNIUS - Lithuania's retail giant VP Market has said it might take owners of Riga's Domina shopping center to court over the latter's decision to select another leaseholder for the premises currently occupied by VP Market's HyperMaxima.

VP Market spokesman Ivars Andins said the company would lodge a complaint with a Riga district court against Domina's owner, PK Investments, for breach of contract.

"Essentially, the issue is about whether HyperMaxima, owned by VP Market, will be able to remain at the Domina shopping center, [which is] owned by Italian-controlled PK Investments, and whether PK Investments meets its contractual obligations under the mutual agreement signed in 2002," Andins said, declining to reveal details of the contract.

In his words, Domina Shopping has already announced that a store of another retailer will open in the premises currently occupied by the HyperMaxima store.

VP Market has declined to comment on HyperMaxima's prospects to continue work at the Domina shopping center, promising to provide comments after the court ruling is announced.

The court has accepted the VP Market complaint, but the date of the court hearing is not known yet.

PK Investments has been unavailable for comments on the issue so far.

Finland's SOK trade group, which owns Prisma supermarkets, announced last December plans to open three to four Prisma stores in Latvia in two to three years and that it would invest some 50 million euros in the project.

The first Prisma store is scheduled to open at the Domina Shopping center in place of the HyperMaxima store this fall.

Domina Shopping is one of the largest shopping centers in Riga. Last year the shopping center raised its sales by 86 percent year-on-year to 30.2 million lats (42.9 million euros).

The Domina Shopping project is being developed by PK Investments, which is part of the Pro Kapital group.