VILNIUS - The publisher of Panevezio Balsas, a regional daily paper, announced last week that Alro Media, a little-known U.S.-based media firm, has purchased a majority stake in the company. Erikas Petkevicius, CEO and editor in chief of Panevezio Balsas, said that the new majority owner would enable the company to strengthen its newspaper publishing operations.
In addition to Panevezio Balsas, the company publishes the weekly paper Aukstaitijos Verslo Balsas and TV Balsas, a television guide.
"The newspaper's new shareholders will pay special attention to professionalism and to the publishing of Panevezio Balsas, Aukstaitijos Verslo Balsas and TV Balsas," said Petkevicius, who personally sold the shares to the U.S. firm.
"Soon renewed, revised and even more professional publications will reach our readers," he added.
Panevezio Balsas' executives hope to strengthen their staff and do not rule out launching other publications in the future, according to the statement.
The acquisition comes amid increasing dynamism in Lithuania's media, which is dominated by local investors but has seen more foreign investment in recent years.
Norway's Schibsted owns 15 min. and has a majority stake in LT, which it publishes in conjunction with Lietuvos Rytas, Lithuania's leading daily.
In January, Estonia's Ekspress Grupp purchased Klubas, a weekly celebrity magazine. Ekspress Liebyda, the group's Lithuania subsidiary, now publishes a total 18 magazines for the Lithuanian market, including Panele, a monthly young women's magazine that, with a 50,000 print-run, is Lithuania's largest monthly periodical.
In April there were reports that Schibsted and the media arm of Hermis Capital, an investment firm, were interested in acquiring Klaipeda, the leading daily in Lithuania's port town.
In March Hermis Capital announced that it has purchased a 100 percent stake in Kauno Diena, one of Lithuania's largest dailies, from Norway's Mecom Press.
Other local media firms include MG Baltic Media, which owns the LNK television channel and Neo Press, a magazine publisher. In April MG Baltic officials hinted that the firm was considering issuing shares and going public.
