Russian intentions to invest in Lithuanian company trigger national security concerns

“The sale [of Achema], if decided by shareholders, will trigger into action a recently adopted law, which says that any investor in such companies must comply with the national security criteria. The law provides for the establishment of a special commission which will have to make a respective check. Therefore such companies cannot be simply sold, even if they are privately owned,” Dalia Grybauskaitė told reporters in Vilnius on Friday.

In line with legislative amendments, which came into force last year, investments in strategic economic sectors and territories surrounding strategic objects can be screened by the government and stopped if potential investors might be posing a threat to national security.

Dmitri Strezhnev, CEO of EuroChem, which owns Lithuania’s fertilizer manufacturer Lifosa, has come on a visit to Lithuania. According to Lifosa’s CEO, Jonas Dastikas, Strezhnev, who is interested in investment environment, has come to discuss future investment in Lifosa, inter alia, with government officials.

The web portal vz.lt reported on Friday citing sources that one of the goals of Strezhnev’s visit to Vilnius was to discuss a possibility to acquire Achemos Grupė (Achema Group), one of the largest Lithuania’s concerns that owns fertilizer manufacturer Achema.

Sources told BNS that Lyda Lubienė, the biggest single shareholder of the Lithuanian company, had not met with Strezhnev and did not intend to sell her shares.