Lithuania Post to be turned into private limited company
The Lithuanian parliament has passed a law to transform the state enterprise Lietuvos Pastas (Lithuanian Post) into a public limited company, 100 percent owned by the state.
The postal operator will be put on the list of enterprises of strategic importance to the national security after its conversion into a public limited company.
The state retains the decision-making power in such companies, but private national and foreign investors, complying with Lithuania’s European and Trans-Atlantic integration criteria, are allowed to have a stake as well.
An study of possibilities for privatization of Lietuvos Pastas is due to be worked out by the end of 2008, which means that the postal operator is likely to remain in the state’s hands at least until that time.
Some lawmakers criticized the decision to reorganize Lietuvos Pastas as a “veiled attempt” to begin the company’s privatization process.
Lietuvos Pastas operated a network of 945 post offices at the start of this year.
There were 64 postal service providers in Lithuania at the end of 2003. Their combined revenues from postal and courier services grew by 9.2 percent to 203.719 million litas (EUR 59.05 mln) last year, according to the Statistics Department’s data.
