Summed up

AVE LAT GRABS ANOTHER STAKE IN KAIJA: The Riga Stock Exchange announced an installment plan agreement was signed between the fish cannery Kaija and the conglomerate Ave Lat Group. Ave Lat will purchase 504,377 Kaija shares, issued on Feb. 13, 1997 to capitalize tax debt transferred to the state budget. The nominal value of one share is one lat ($1.6). All shares are ordinary shares with voting rights. According to the installment agreement, the price for each share is 1.16 lats. The group also signed an agreement with Rigas Alus brewery to purchase 412,272 brewery shares at the nominal price of one lat. (LETA)

TALLINN AIRPORT CONSTRUCTION UNDER WAY: Tallinn Airport signed a contract with the consortium of AS EMV and ABB for the reconstruction of the airport's passenger terminal. According to the airport's board chairman, Toomas Peterson, the cost of reconstruction is estimated at 350 million kroons ($25 million), of which construction work amounts to 267.9 million kroons. The project is financed with a 275 million kroon loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank, 15 million kroons come from the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, and the remaining 60 million kroons will be granted by the Estonian government and the Tallinn Airport. The international bid for finding the cheapest builder attracted a total of six offers. The reconstruction work, started on Aug. 17, will take 12 months, followed by a three-month trial period of the new installations. During the reconstruction, flights will arrive and depart from the airport's temporary terminal which was inaugurated on Aug. 16. (ETA)

STEVEDORING COMPANY FINDS INVESTOR: The State Property Fund signed a contract with the Western Lithuania Industrial and Finance Corporation for the sale of the stevedoring company Klaipedos Smelte. The corporation will have to pay 45 million litas ($11.25 million) for 89.51 percent of Klaipedos Smelte state-owned shares by Oct. 1. Within five years, the corporation will invest additionally 75 million litas. According to a corporation board member, Rimandas Stonys, the real investments might exceed the sum indicated in the contract, since the port infrastructure must be renewed. Stonys listed the small capacity of the railway used for delivery of cargoes and insufficient depth of the quay among the major problems of the stevedoring company. (ELTA)

NEW INVESTMENT FUND LAUNCHED: A new investment company fund established by the Latvian bank Trasta Komercbanka on Aug. 17 is scheduled to begin operations the first week of October. Roberts Idelsons, securities department chairman, said the bank's shareholders decided to establish the investment fund and submit all necessary documents to the Securities Market Commission in the first week of September. "We predict that we will begin attracting assets from individuals clients starting October," said Idelsons. (LETA)

HOTEL CHAIN PROFITS DROP: The Reval Hotel Group, operator of Estonia's largest hotel Olumpia and several other hotels, announced its profits are falling. The group posted a net profit of 8.9 million kroons ($635.700) in the first half of the year, which is over 4.5 million kroons less compared to the same period last year. Reval Hotel Group's finance manager Katrin Rasmann said the fall in net profits and the expected fall in annual profits were the result of a considerable boost in the central office's marketing, administration and development costs. The Reval Hotel Group announced it will cut the company's annual profit forecast from 30 million kroons to 21 million kroons. Rasmann said that the first half of the year indicated that hotels operated by the group had preserved their market position and achieved the turnover and operating profit levels aimed at in their budget. (ETA)

RUSSIAN CRISIS INFLUENCES LITHUANIA: In the face of the ongoing financial crisis in Asia and Russia, western investors demanded the Lithuanian Mazeikiu Nafta oil company return a $73 million loan. The loan was granted last September when U.S. bank CS First Boston issued a three-year Eurobonds emission to finance the company's working capital. According to the contract terms, CS First Boston was free to demand redemption of emission within a year. As western investors link the Lithuanian market with Russia they asked to repay the loan. Virginija Kristinaitiene, head of Mazeikiu Nafta's information service, said the company is searching for new funding sources because of the critical situation. The company is most likely to use some refunding sources, which might be a new loan. Mazeikiu Nafta is in continuous talks with banks, shareholders and potential creditors, Kristinaitiene said. (ELTA)