Big deals in 1999

ƒ Hansapank expanded to Latvia and Lithuania this year and is now the
biggest bank in the Baltics.

ƒ Internet surfers won out when Tele2 fired the first shot in the war
of the Internet service providers: totally free dial-up service.
Eesti Telefon's Atlas volleyed with the same offer. Meanwhile
Microlink teamed up with Hansapank to offer free computers to
Internet subscribers.

ƒ Norex - The alliance between the Stockholm and Copenhagen stock
exchanges extended a formal invitation to the Baltic bourse on Sept.
24 to begin accession negotiations. Investors hope the move will
increase activity on and confidence in the Baltic exchanges

ƒ Ice cream - Estonia's Tallinna Kulmhoone and Lithuania's Kauno
Pieno Centras merged in October to create the largest ice cream
producing factory in the region. The merger was the largest ever
between an Estonian and Lithuanian company.

ƒ Eesti Telekom - Trading of shares of the Estonian telephone company
began on Feb. 11 in Tallinn, Berlin and London. The sale raised over
3 billion kroons for Estonia, more than doubling the size of the
Tallinn Stock Exchange

ƒ Estonia-Ukraine free trade agreement - Foreign ministers of the two
countries met in Tallinn in January to discuss problems with the free
trade agreement that wasn't so free, according to Estonian exporters.
In October the foreign ministers met again, this time in Kiev, where
Ukraine's Boris Tarasyuk assured Estonia's Toomas Ilves that all
trade barriers would be abolished. Estonia has signed 38 bilateral
relations with Ukraine, more than with any other country.

ƒ Oil - On Oct. 29 the American company Williams International and
the Lithuanian government signed an agreement allowing Williams to
purchase 33 percent of Mazeikiu Nafta for $150 million. As a result,
Williams will have operational control of the Lithuanian oil
refinery, pipeline and Butinge offshore crude terminal. Lithuania's
government must make a $344 million loan to Williams. The pact allows
Williams to own a controlling interest within five years.

"Williams plans to develop the Lithuanian assets into the most
efficient of their type in Europe," said John Bumgarner, Williams
International president.

The planned capacity at the Butinge import and export terminal is 8
million tons per year, or 160,000 barrels per day. Mazeikiu Nafta,
the only petroleum product producer in the Baltic states, has a
design capacity of approximately 15 million tons per year, or 300,000
barrels per day.

ƒ Different oil - At the end of 1999, Mazeikiu Nafta imported oil not
only from Russia, but also from the West via Butinge, releasing
Lithuania from dependency on Russian oil supplies. This has been
Lithuania's dream since 1990 when the country re-established its
independence, at which time the USSR, led by Mikhail Gorbachev,
imposed an oil and gas blockade on Lithuania trying unsuccessfully to
force Lithuanians to recognize Moscow's power.

Compiled by Brooke Donald and Rokas Tracevskis.