Company briefs - 2004-01-22

The tender for Air Lithuania, a subsidiary of Lietuvos Avialinijos (Lithuanian Airlines) has reportedly attracted interest from 13 potential domestic and foreign investors, not including Scandinavian Airlines System. The initial selling price for the company, which had over 20 million litas (5.8 million euros) in debt as of June 2003, has been set at 715,000 litas. Jan. 19 was the deadline for bids.

Kalija Parks, one of the largest potassium-salt and mineral fertilizer terminals in the world, handled 4.8 million tons of cargo in 2003, up 2.2 percent year-on-year. The Ventspils-based company handled 4.7 million tons of potassium and mineral fertilizer, slightly up on the previous year, while it did not handle any grain at all.

State-owned Eesti Energia exported 1,250 gigawatt-hours of electricity to Latvia during 2003, nearly 76 percent more than in 2002. In comparison, the company sold 6,022 gigawatt-hours of electricity in Estonia during the year.

Cesu Alus, Latvia's second largest brewery, said it planned to build a new boiler this summer at the cost of 2 million lats (3 million euros) that will allow the brewery to double production capacity. Company officials said they wanted to start the project last autumn but were delayed due to unclear regulations for beer sales.

The French company Bouygues has been named as a possible general contractor for the Baltic Sea Park in Liepaja, a recreational and entertainment center on the 36-acre territory of the remains of the city's 18th and 19th century fortress. The park will house a hotel, shopping area, sports facilities, as well as a hall for cultural events. The contracting authority of the project is Baltic Sea Park Development, whose CEO Pauls Puke said that the estimated investments in the project would amount to 50 million euros.

The Finnish construction companies Rantasalmi and VTR, together with Estonia's Parnu Beach and Golf Resort, are planning to build a golf course in the Parnu area, Kauppalehti Online reported. The resort will consist of 60 cottages, an 18-hole golf course, a club watering hole and tennis courts. Construction will start in February so that the complex would be ready in August 2005. The first cottages are planned to accommodate visitors already this year.

Latvia-based Lateko Bank said it was evaluating the Russian market and seeking possible areas in which the bank could provide services, marketing director Aleksejs Sapurovs said last week. He said the bank had opened a representation in Moscow and is now "identifying niches in which the best services could be provided." Bank President Oskars Gulans said Russia's market was enormous and tempting in regards to return but that banking legislation is not in order. "Maybe in Latvia, too, things are not 100 percent perfect, but our laws can't even be compared to those of Russia," he said.

The SBA Concern, Lithuania's Kaunas-based furniture group, said the companies under its umbrella sold 31.9 percent more products in 2003 year-on-year and that it was projecting a further 24-percent rise in sales this year. Growth plans are being linked with exports to new markets, cost cuts and an increase in sales of products made by the group's own manufacturing companies. Orders from IKEA account for 60 percent of the group's furniture sales, a concern official said.