RIGA - One of Latvia's largest companies, Latvijas Kugnieciba (Latvian Shipping Company, or LASCO) was finally fully privatized on Nov. 20 when the remaining shares - 0.43 percent - were sold at an open auction.
The final sale ended a series of four pervious failed attempts at selling the minute state-held stake.
The auction generated 294,000 lats (455,000 euros) for the state.
Although it was unclear who bought the shares, Ventspils Nafta remains the largest stakeholder in LASCO, with over 30 percent under its control, while Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas holds the second biggest share, at almost 20 percent.
Latvia's main shipper was created when the Soviet Union collapsed. The 87 ships registered in Latvia eventually fell into possession of the Baltic state and became the foundation of the state-owned company in 1991.
Currently LASCO has a fleet of 48 ships, including tankers, reefers, carriers and dry cargo vessels.
Accession to the European Union next May will force some changes at LASCO, particularly the phasing out of single-hull tankers due to the Prestige disaster - a tanker which had been carrying crude loaded off Ventspils - off the coast of Spain last year.
"Legislation changes in the shipping industry will also have an impact on LASCO, as not all of its tankers are double hull," Janis Lecinskis, a financial market analyst at Parex Bank said.
"Nevertheless, the fleet's rather old age makes this problem less poignant, meaning that some tankers will already end their useful lives by the time they should be phased out."
Replacing the single-hull ships will bring about a temporary reduction in LASCO's fleet strength, but it is expected that, as a result of the time consuming fleet renewal program recently launched, the company's fleet will consist of 22 tankers by the end of 2010, Lecinskis explained.
Speaking of the company's shareholder structure, Lecinskis said he did not see any consolidation in the near future, as Ventspils Nafta almost has a controlling stake already.
In the first nine months of 2003, LASCO made a profit of $17.2 million.
In June LASCO opened a new ferry line VentLines in the route Venstpils - Travemende (Germany) . The ferry makes cruises two times per week and covers the distance between ports in 30 hours.
