In Brief - 2002-12-05

Sell-off plans for LAL

Lithuania's Privatization Commission approved the privatization program for Lietuvos Avialinijos (Lithuanian Airlines, or LAL) next year.

The program is to be submitted to the government for approval this month, after which he government is likely to announce a tender for the carrier in January, with the prospect of closing a deal with an investor in July to August.

Under the program, LAL is to be privatized by way of public tender with the transfer of the state's control. LAL is currently 100 percent owned by the state. According to the program, the government should sell 34 percent of the existing shares in the initial stage of the privatization.

Within two years after the sale of the 34 percent stake in LAL, the company should issue new shares worth 9.04 million litas (2.62 million euros), which would represent 49 percent of the increased stock capital. The investor would raise its total stake in LAL to 66 percent following the acquisition of the new issue. (Baltic News Service)

Bribery still important

An anti-corruption task force assigned to monitor countries aspiring to accede to the EU found that many Latvian businessmen still find that bribes are still important when dealing with politicians.

Quentin Reed of the EU task force said that the situation in Latvia was generally no different than from the nine other candidate countries, but that it was important to avoid a situation where the influence of politicians over business life becomes too high. In Reed's opinion, the state system has created such activities since political corruption has in a way become a tradition. The perception of corruption in Latvia is relatively high as many businessmen consider that Latvian politicians are not always honest.

The Latvian Parliament has already set up an independent anti-corruption commission for the first time to deal with the issues. (Baltic Business News)

No land for foreigners

Estonia is seeking to implement a transitional period on sale of agricultural and forest land to foreigners and is seeking EU support for the plan. Alar Streimann, head of Estonia's negotiating team with the EU, confirmed that Estonia has made such a request to the EU in the recent round of negotiations.

"At present this concerns the sale of agricultural and forest land to foreigners, but I would not rule out other property transactions," said Streimann, adding that the issue was still wide open. He explained that Estonia decided to file the application at such a late phase because the likelihood for EU agreement to such a request is relatively high.

"It was our initiative. The European Union has already made its counteroffer," added Streimann.

Aivar Niinemägi, who represents Estonian agricultural organizations in Brussels, said that Denmark, which is holding the EU presidency, was offering Estonia to impose restrictions for seven years. (BBN)

Baltic dairy squabble

Lithuania's National Veterinary Laboratory once again examined sweet-curd snacks produced by the Latvian dairy company Rigas Piensaimnieks and found no salmonella in the products.

Vidmantas Paulauskas, deputy director of the laboratory confirmed this Dec. 2. "Some nine brands of sweet-curd snacks had been repeatedly tested, but no salmonella was found in either of them," he said. "With these results in hand, we will have a wider view of the situation at the company and will be able to draw conclusions."

The veterinary service decided to probe Rigas Piensaimnieks last week after the Lithuania's State Food and Veterinary Service announced it had found salmonella in the company's products. The service temporarily suspended the sale of curd and curd products of Rigas Piensaimnieks in Lithuania and banned imports of the company's other products unless they had been tested at the National Veterinary Laboratory.

The Latvian company said it could assure the quality of its products and considered the suspension of sales in Lithuania a provocative move. (BNS)

Fishers move to merge

Two of Latvia's largest fish processing companies - Salacgriva'95 and Brivais Vilnis - have started talks for a merger and plan to finalize the deal by April next year.

Salacgriva'95 board member Guntis Lame said that the merged company is expected to be called Brivais Vilnis (Free Wave), adding that the legal merger of the two companies is currently under way, and is to be completed by the company shareholders meeting next spring.

It is expected that following the shareholders meeting, Brivais Vilnis will issue new stocks to be accordingly swapped for stakes in Salacgriva'95, which could happen by mid-next year, said Lame. The stock will be listed on Riga's Stock Exchange.

Thus the merged company is expected to be the largest fish processing company in Latvia. Lame said that the Brivais Vilnis plant was certified to EU standards, while the Salacgriva'95 plant was not as of yet. He said that the Salacgriva'95 plant was expected to be certified, but that this would probably not happen by next year. (BNS)