The Lithuanian State Property Fund recently took over the management of the ship yard from Norway's Western Invest due to the Norwegian company's failure to meet its obligations. The fund now holds around 27 percent of shares in the yard, and Latvia's Parex bank has taken over 64.9 percent of shares in the shipyard.
Western Invest paid the Lithuanian state for 64.9 percent of shares in Vakaru Laivu Remontas, but it failed to repay a loan granted by Parex to finance the transaction, and the Latvian bank has taken over the stake, which had been pledged to the bank as a security.
In an effort to recover the loan of nearly 25 million litas ($6.25 million), the Latvian bank has said earlier that it will help a new strategic investor acquire the shares that had not been paid for and are still owned by the state, and extend a loan to replenish the company's working capital.
Laivite agreed to carry out Vakaru Laivu Remontas' original privatization program and pay the state the remaining sum of money that Western Invest failed to pay. The company agrees to purchase the entire stake of 92.8 percent in Vakaru Laivu Remontas, as provided for in the privatization program, and pledges to invest another 40 million litas in the shipyard, based in the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda, over five years.
Laivite, majority owned by the Lithuanian company Baltlanta, posted a loss of 305,000 litas for 2000.
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