In Brief - 2003-04-17

Gazprom bids for Lietuvos Dujos

Russia's Gazprom submitted its final bid for a 34 percent equity stake in the natural gas company Lietuvos Dujos (Lithuanian Gas) on April 11.

The company had failed to submit its final bid for the 34 percent stake in Lietuvos Dujos on Feb. 28, the earlier deadline. The press has reported that Gazprom is offering only 80 million litas (23.1 million euros) for the shares in the state-majority-owned gas utility. Earlier the government had sought 116 million litas from Russia's gas monopoly for the shares in Lietuvos Dujos, which is the same price the German consortium of Ruhrgas and E.ON Energie paid for their 34 percent stake in the Lithuanian company last year.

Officials have hinted, however, that the government may agree to a slightly lower price. Reportedly, Gazprom has agreed to supply 70 percent of natural gas directly to Lithuania provided that the government stops regulating prices for large-scale consumers. (Baltic News Service)

Grindex increasing control of subsidiary

On April 11 Latvia's largest pharmaceuticals producer Grindex bought another 12.34 percent stake in Tallinna Farmaatsiatehas (Tallinn Pharmaceuticals Plant), boosting its share in the company to 76.5 percent.

Valdis Jakobsons, chairman of the Grindex board, said that the shares in the Tallinn pharmaceuticals plant were bought in order to boost Grindex's influence on the company, which hopes to boost development. He said that the additional acquisition of stocks in the Estonian company was also related to the company's plans to establish a Baltic pharmaceuticals holding.

Jakobsons did not say what price the shares were bought for, but said they were bought from two separate companies. The board chairman also could not say whether Grindex would continue buying up stocks in Tallinna Farmaatsiatehas. (BNS)

Fish auctions canceled by minister

Following protests by fishers, Estonia's Environment Minister Villu Reiljan has called off an auction for sprat and Baltic herring harvesting rights in the Baltic Sea scheduled for this month, as well as a shrimping rights auction for the Spitsbergen area waters scheduled for April 24.

Reiljan said he made his decision on the basis of public pressure to cancel the auction. "Taking into account the positions of the fishing community, the failure of the two auctions that have been announced, and a very clearly expressed wish of the legislator, it is not advisable to hold an auction again," Reiljan was quoted as saying.

Amendments to the fishing law that took effect on Jan. 29 abolished auctions and secured quotas for fishermen who harvested fish in the preceding three years, yet several auctions have been held since the amendments took effect, with officials saying that the auctions had been planned before the end of January. (BNS)

Onninen preparing for expansion

The Finnish wholesaler Onninen intends to invest 3.6 million euros over the next three years in order to double its Baltic sales.

"According to strategy, Onninen will make it to the top three in each of its areas of activity in all the Baltic states by the end of 2005," Peeter Matt, Onninen's managing director for the Baltic states, said at a news conference on April 14. "The strategy calls for doubling sales to 765 million kroons (48.88 million euros) and opening of several new wholesale stores in the region," he added.

The wholesaler of heating, water supply and sewerage, electricity, ventilation and refrigerating goods presently has wholesale stores in Tallinn and Tartu. A new facility on Laki Street, Tallinn, will open one month from now. The sales manager in charge of the Baltics, Andres Virkus, said two more cash-and-carry facilities would be launched in Estonia by 2005, one for the western half of the country and the other for the northeastern part. (BNS)

Exporting brew to Ireland

Ragutis, one of Lithuania's major breweries with a 10 percent domestic market share, has started the export of Horn beer and FIZZ cider to Ireland.

Some 1,200 liters of Horn Pils and another 1,200 liters of Horn Premium, as well as 741 liters of FIZZ, were shipped to Ireland last week, the company said. Dalius Rutkauskas, Ragutis' sales and marketing director, said the company planned to launch cider exports to Kaliningrad and Ukraine in May. At present, Latvia is Ragutis' main export market. The Kaunas-based brewery exported 1.9 million liters of beer to the neighboring country last year.

The company's total sales in both the domestic and foreign markets reached 22.6 million liters of beer in 2002. The Estonian brewer A. Le Coq, which is controlled by Finland's Olvi, owned 83 percent of Ragutis' shares as of summer 2002. (BNS)

Latvia takes Baltic railway lead

The Baltic railway transport industry saw the change of leaders after the first quarter of 2003 as Latvijas Dzelzcels (Latvian Railway) moved ahead of the last year's leader, the Estonian company Eesti Raudtee.

In the first three months of this year the state-owned Latvijas Dzelzcels carried 12.1 million tons of cargo and boasted the most rapid growth of cargo turnover - 28.7 percent. - in the Baltics.

Eesti Raudtee had to be content with the second place after carrying 10.8 million tons in the first quarter of 2003 at a growth of 6.53 percent year-on-year.

The Lithuanian railway company Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai transported 10.2 million tons of cargo during the period - a growth of 20 percent from last year. (BNS)