5 March 1998: Valmiera Glassfibre of Latvia said that its management council expected to approve a way of placing 1.13 million shares created by a share swap of its debt to the state at the end of las…
5 March 1998: Valmiera Glassfibre of Latvia said that its management council expected to approve a way of placing 1.13 million shares created by a share swap of its debt to the state at the end of last month.The stake was purchased by Valmiera late last year and has to be sold in a year“s time. “We will decide how to place these shares and how much, if at all, will stay with Valmiera and its controlling stake owner,” said Imants Saulitis, Valmiera finance manager. The fibre glass producer, quoted on the stock exchange“s secondary list, is more than 40% controlled by German Glasseiden Gmbh Oschatz. “We expect the prospectus for the issue to be through the securities Commission in April, so they can become tradable some time in May,” Saulitis said. “We have already started talks with banks on the placing mechanism, so that the buyers will be more or less known by then”. Meanwhile, Valmiera said its council is also expected to approve a three-year investment programme, aimed at increasing its production volume by half by 2001. “The investment programme, worth some 10 million lats, would increase production volume by 50% by 2001,” said Saulitis. A new gas oven, to be in the design stage by March, would bring fibre glass volumes up to 13 to 14 million tonnes a year from a 1998 forecast level of 10.8 million tonnes. The firm, founded in 1963, said it sees the introduction of gas technology in fibre glass production as a significant upgrading, increasing its competitve edge. “The gas oven will also make for better quality as gas does not contain sulphur dioxide as masut does,” Inars Polaks, Valmiera board chairman said. Polaks added that the company would save 56,000 lats a year by moving to gas.