According to the sources, the stake in Lietuvos Rytas might be attractive to Hans Luik, the largest single shareholder of Estonia’s Ekspress Group, who, before the acquisition of the news portal Delfi, stated repeatedly at meetings with investors that he would like to acquire Lietuvos Rytas.
CEO of Ekspress Grupp later said he would not make any comments about the plans of the Estonian company.
“We regularly receive different proposals to buy different media assets and we consider them all very seriously. We have no opinion on the possible value of the shares in Lietuvos Rytas," Gunnar Kobin, CEO of Ekspress Grupp, told BNS.
Benas Gudelis, a well-known Lithuanian businessman, also reportedly eyed a holding in Lietuvos Rytas and spoke about it unofficially. However, now he says that he will “consider this issue as he does with all possibilities opening up in the market”. Gudelis would not make any more comments to the web portal.
“The holding in Lietuvos Rytas on sale does not interest us,” Raimondas Kurlianskis, vice-president of MG Baltic concern, told eversus.lt. MG Baltic Media, the holding arm of the concern, owns LNK, UPG, Alfa Media, and Mediafon.
Last December, Laisvas ir Nepriklausomas Kanalas, the owner of LNK, one of Lithuania’s most popular TV channels, signed an agreement with Achemos Grupė, one of Lithuania’s largest business comglomerates, on the acquisition of Baltijos TV, the broadcaster of Lithuania’s BTV television channel. The deal has not been closed yet, since regulatory clearance has still to be issued.
According to the portal, the sale of shares in Lietuvos Rytas is critical both for the media company and the entire media sector as it would show whether investors, who have been getting more active lately, are starting to turn their backs on the media industry.
Snoras Media, a subsidiary of bankrupt Snoras bank, owns the holding in Lietuvos Rytas which has been put on sale.
