Summed up

  • 1998-09-10
PRICE DETERMINED FOR A CEMENT PLANT: The council of the Estonian Privatization Agency set the price for 20 percent of shares in cement producer Kunda Nordic Tsement at 34.2 million kroons ($2.44 million). Privatization Agency Director General Vaino Sarnet said Atlas-Nordic Cement Ltd. Oy (ANL) will probably acquire the state-owned stake. The ANL already owns 30.3 percent of the cement company's shares. After the state-owned shares are sold, the government will still have a 29.9 percent stake in the firm. Economics Minister Jaak Leimann said the Privatization Agency will decide when to privatize the last state stake in the company. When Kunda Nordic Tsement was founded in 1992, the government had 65 percent of the shares.

ALDARIS WINS BRONZE MEDAL: Latvia's Aldaris Brewery has òeceived a bronze medal for its Aldara Luksus beer at the international competition World Beer Cup '98. The competition in Rio de Janeiro attracted more than 245 breweries from different countries that offered 836 brands of beer. Aldaris is the largest Baltic brewery that netted 1.28 million lats ($2.13 million) on a turnover of 9.09 million lats in the first half of this year.

LITHUANIAN PHARMACEUTICAL PLANT STOPPED: About 390 people at Endokrininiai Preparatai, Lithuania's second largest pharmaceutical company, began a forced, unpaid vacation Sept. 1 thanks to the financial crisis in Russia. Virginija Maldutiene, Endokrininiai Preparatai vice president for commerce, said the company deliberately stopped trading with Russia because it could suffer great losses. The Kaunas based pharmaceutical company exports about 60 percent of its products to Russia. It sold medicine worth 12.8 million litas ($3.2 million) to Russia during the first half of this year.

ESTONIA ENDS METAL EXPORT MONOPOLY: The Estonian government approved a draft decree establishing application procedures for licenses to buy and export scrap metal. The new decree will finish metal exporter's Eesti Metallieksport (EMEX) monopoly. Economics Minister Jaak Leimann said the decree will come into force on Nov. 1. "We believe the boom of the metal trade is over and there won't be many applicants for a license," Leimann said. "The world metal market is in a slump too and prices have fallen." According to Leimann, major firms working with metals - for example shipyards - might consider applying for a license since they produce a lot of scrap metal.

LIEPAJA'S LARGEST HOTEL ON SALE: Liepaja's municipality listed Liva, the largest hotel in the city for privatization. A work group will draft terms of privatization with the condition that a cash payment must account for at least half of the total payment. The privatization of the hotel is being pushed by the hotel's director. The buyer will be chosen after business plans are available or an auction is staged. Liva has 123 suites and corresponds to the three star standard. Last year, it served 11,554 guests.

GERMANS HELP PALANGA AIRPORT: German consulting agencies Spiekermann and Consult are planning to help Lithuania attract about 200 million DM in investments for the development of Palanga Airport. The two German companies, signed a protocol of intent Aug. 28, with the Lithuanian Transportation Ministry, the Klaipeda Region Administration and the Palanga Municipality. Spiekermann took on a commitment to draft proposals concerning investments over the next two weeks. The director of Palanga Airport, Leonas Kvietkauskas, said the Germans are interested in exporting cargo to Russia, processing fish in Klaipeda and exporting products by air. Future investments would be used for mending the runways, passenger terminal and upgrading other equipment and infrastructure.

GRINDEX TAKES OVER SALES RIGHTS: The Tallinn Pharmaceutical Factory signed a contract with its main investor, Latvia's Grindex, on reorganizing its sales from September onward. The Tallinn factory's products will be sold through Grindex. The responsibility for both companies' sales operation will rest on Grindex's sales and marketing department. The contract gives the Latvian drug maker exclusive rights to distribute Tallinn Pharmaceutical's products in the Baltic countries and in European, Russian and other regional markets.

LITHUANIAN AIRLINES, LOT TEAM UP: Lithuanian Airlines (LAL) and the Polish national air carrier LOT will launch joint flights between Vilnius and Warsaw shortly. An agreement sealing the deal was signed Sept. 4, in the Lithuanian capital. It will go into effect on Oct. 25, the start of the aviational winter season. A LAL spokesman reports that the two carriers are now coordinating their flight schedules. LOT will fly daily in the morning, and LAL will take off every evening.