In Brief - 2003-05-22

Lithuanian kilowatts for Finland

Utility giant Lietuvos Energija (Lithuanian Energy) has stated its intention to enter the Finnish market.

Company CEO Rymantas Juozaitis sent a letter to the management of Estonian power supplier Eesti Energia with a request to provide information on the possibilities of connecting Estonia's and Finland's power systems, the daily Lietuvos Rytas reported.

The Latvian, Finnish and Estonian power transmission companies recently signed a protocol on intentions aiming to implement a project of 345 million litas (100 million euros) in value.

The project provides for energy export to Finland from Estonia and Latvia via cable built at the bed of the Baltic Sea. Latvia and Estonia would contribute 50 percent to the project, while the other half would be financed by Finland.

Juoziatis said that Lithuania's possible participation in the project is dictated by the fact that Finnish and Polish markets are much more profitable for Lithuania than those of Belarus and Russia, where Lithuanian-made kilowatts are currently being exported, the CEO said. (Baltic News Service)

Latvian shipper still SEEING red

Last year Rigas Kugnieciba shipping company saw a significant rise in losses and lower revenues due to foreign investors' decisions, reported the company.

RK Executive Director Miks Ekbaums said that the large losses last year were a result of the previous owners, Norway's T.H. Jacobsen & Co. and British Virginia-based NEVA Chartering, which reportedly had intended to liquidate the company altogether by selling off its assets, thereby eliminating a competitor.

Ekbaums also said that after the privatization of RK, T.H. Jacobsen & Co. ordered the company to stop all cargo services in order to reduce competition with its holding company.

Thus RK serviced only its Norwegian holding company at prices way below market level, said Ekbaums. In 2002, only a year after privatization, the entire RK fleet and real estate property were also sold off, he said. (BNS)

Klementi to issue new shares

Estonian garment maker AS Klementi has called an extraordinary shareholders meeting for May 23 to decide about increasing stock capital by 5.7 million kroons (370,000 euros).

The management board will propose to waive the present shareholders' pre-emptive rights, as new shareholders are planned to be brought in with the issue. The plan is to issue 575,000 new A shares with a nominal value of 10 kroons and an issue price of 27.50 kroons per share. Proceeds from the planned issue are estimated at 15.8 million kroons.

The subscription period would last from June 2 to 10. (BNS)

Ventspils handling more grain

Ventspils port cargo-handling company Noord Natie Ventspils Terminals plans to handle grain cargo of up to 100,000 tons per year, the company announced on May 16.

Andrejs Kozlovs, technical director of NNVT, said that the grain was already being delivered to Ventspils via rail from Kazakhstan for shipment by sea to East Asia, Europe and other parts of the world.

Most of the grain cargo would be coming in after the harvest in fall and winter, with loads of around 10,000 - 12,000 tons to be loaded onto ships.

Two other terminals at the port of Ventspils, Kalija Parks and Ventspils Tirdzniecibas Osta, have also started handling grain cargo. (BNS)

Shipper privatization might be canceled

The Lithuanian State Property Fund has proposed that the government cancel the bidding procedure for a 66.66 percent stake in the shipping company Lietuvos Juru Laivininkyste.

According to available information, the Cabinet is likely to discuss the respective draft resolution, submitted by the privatization agency, this week.

The commission responsible for the LJL privatization tender has not announced a winning bidder so far since it has received negative information about the highest bidder, the Danish company Trident Marine ApS, both from law-enforcement bodies and from other sources.

According to unofficial sources, Trident Marine ApS has submitted the highest bid - 33 million litas (9.5 million euros) - for the shares in LJL,.

This is the government's first attempt to sell the stake in LJL. It set an initial selling price of 20.09 million litas for the entire block, or 0.15 litas per share. (BNS)

New bus routes for Tallinn

Four new bus routes will connect Estonia to Ukraine, Germany and Poland as the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications granted four licenses to Taisto Bussid and H-Liinid last week.

Taisto Bussid will launch the Tallinn-Warsaw and St. Petersburg–Paldiski–Freiberg routes, and H-Liinid will start with the Tallinn-Parnu-Gomel and Tallinn-Minsk-Kiev-Odessa lines as soon as the respective foreign states issue their licenses.

The ministry's transport commission is about to issue licenses for the Moscow-Paldiski-Karlsruhe route by Taisto Bussid, and Tallinn-Tartu-Hmelnitski and Tallinn–Tartu–Minsk by Irolin OU. (The Baltic Times)