Businessman Igor Udovickij, the top shareholder of Biriu Kroviniu Terminalas (Bulk Cargo Terminal, or BKT), a Klaipeda port company that used to handle Belarusian fertilisers, has applied for regulatory clearance to buy 30% of BKT’s shares from the sanction-hit Belarusian fertiliser producer Belaruskali.
“Concentration is being implemented by Igor Udovickij by purchasing 30% of shares in BKT (100%, including the existing shareholding) and acquiring full control of the said company,” the Lithuanian Competition Council announced on its website.
Belaruskali holds a 30% stake in BKT, while Udovickij owns 5% of the company shares directly and 65% via the Switzerland-registered company Hasenberg. The latter is 100% owned by Latvia’s Fortis Asset Management that is controlled by Udovickij.
Belaruskali acquired a 30% stake in BKT for $30 million in the spring of 2013.
Belaruskali had been exporting around 11 million tons of fertilisers via Klaipeda annually for more than a decade, but the shipments stopped in February when Lithuania’s state-owned railway company terminated its long-term contract.
The Belarusian state-owned potash fertiliser giant had been sanctioned by the US, after which the Vilnius government decided that allowing it to transport products via Lithuania went against national security.
Left with empty quays since February 10, BKT announced early in March that it would lay off all its employees, i.e. 142 people, until the end of May. However, data from the State Social Security Fund (Sodra) showed that the company still employed a workforce of 39 on August 10. (LRT/Business World Magazine)
