Society
Competition Council
Energy
Orlen Lietuva to face competition council investigation
Lithuania’s Competition Council opened an investigation into Orlen Lietuva, suspecting the oil refinery could have sold diesel fuel to one company under preferential terms. […]
Economy
Swedbank gets go ahead to take over Danske retail business in Lithuania
Swedbank has been given the go-ahead by Lithuania’s Competition Council to take over the retail banking business of Danske Bank in Lithuania. […]
Energy
Competition watchdogs to look into power reserve deal
The Competition Council has decided to open an investigation and see whether the Lithuanian government‘s decision to single out the Elektrėnai-based Lithuanian Power Plant as the primary supplier of reserve power capacity did not violate competition rules. […]
Economy
French group Veolia sues Lithuania for €100m
The French group Veolia, which owns heating companies in Lithuania, is suing the country for €100 million at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington. Veolia is demanding compensation for losses it allegedly sustained due to unfair treatment by the Lithuanian government. […]
Politics
CORPORATE
Prime minister demands investigation in food for poor scandal
The Lithuanian state could be paying up to double average market prices for food it procures under a programme to support those living in poverty, according to an investigation by 15min.lt. […]
Economy
Coca-Cola acquires Lithuanian bottled water producer Neptūnas
Coca-Cola is buying Lithuanian bottled water company Neptūno Vandenys. […]
Economy
Swedbank and Danske Bank deal may need Competition Council’s approval
Swedbank‘s deal with Danske Bank on taking over the latter’s retail banking services might put the Swedish bank into a dominant market position and therefore will need to be signed off by the Competition Council, a lawyer says. Still, there should be no trouble securing the competition watchdog’s approval, the business daily Verslo Žinios reports. […]
Society
Kaunas University of Technology to acquire ISM University of Management and Economics
The Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) and the ISM University of Management and Economics (ISM) in Vilnius will soon become partners when KTU acquires a controlling share of ISM’s stocks. The deal will be completed as soon as KTU receives the approval of the Competition Council. […]
Economy
Forum Cinemas fined €1.4m for cartel agreement
Forum Cinemas, the Finnish company operating the biggest chains of cinemas in Lithuania, has been hit with a nearly €1.4 million fine for a cartel agreement. […]
Politics
Amendments to curb corruption submitted to Lithuanian parliament
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė submitted a bill aimed at curbing the shady donations from state and municipality controlled companies, preventing waste of money and ensuring more transparency. […]
Energy
Vilnius court upholds EUR 35m antitrust fine for Gazprom
Vilnius Regional Administrative Court has rejected OAO Gazprom‘s compliant against Lithuania’s Competition Council. […]
Politics
Company linked to Lithuanian PM’s family involved in cartel agreement
The Competition Council of Lithuania has imposed fines on four companies for concluding cartel arrangements. Ministerium is among the fined enterprises. Until recently it was co-owned by the son-in-law of Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius. […]
Economy
Competition Council should keep an eye on the newest Teo purchase
IT and telecommunications company Teo has purchased 100 percent of the shares of the Lithuanian mobile service provider Omnitel from its current shareholder TeliaSonera. The move has provoked a lot of discussion in the Lithuania public sphere and that shouldn’t surprise anyone as the purchase is one of the biggest in Lithuania’s business history. Both companies are owned by Swedish Company TeliaSonera. […]
Economy
Two CEOs detained for attempt to bribe Lithuanian Competition Council employee
Officials of Special Investigation Service (STT) detained two CEOs for an attempt to bribe an employee of the Lithuanian Competition Council (KT). The KT‘s employee refused to accept 14,000-euro bribe, an equivalent of the employee’s annual salary, in exchange for a favourable decision in a suspected bid rigging case. […]
Economy
Vilnius Sports Palace renovation deemed project of national importance
The Lithuanian government on Monday agreed in principle to grant the status of an economic project of national importance to the planned conversion of the Vilnius Palace of Concerts and Sports, a now derelict building that was built more than 40 years ago on the site of a former Jewish cemetery, to a centre for conventions and cultural events. […]
Economy
Vilnius to scrap municipal taxi company
Vilnius Mayor Remigijus Šimašius says that the municipality will comply with the decision of the Competition Council and exit taxi business, divesting itself of the taxi company Vilnius Veža created by the previous mayor. It is yet unclear what procedure will be applied to the company. […]
Energy
Vilnius court closes case on Gazprom’s access to anti-trust fine documents
A Vilnius court on Tuesday closed its hearing into a complaint filed by Gazprom over the Lithuanian competition watchdog’s decision not to grant it full access to documents regarding an anti-trust fine of almost 35.7 million euros it imposed on the Russian gas giant. […]
Economy
Lithuanian politicians find reorganization of Estonian-owned biofuel company suspicious
Prosecutors say that plans by Bionovus, an Icor-controlled biofuel supplier, to merge with its Estonian-registered owner and cease operations will have no impact on their investigation into the company’s deals, but some lawyers say that this would make it more difficult to gather documents needed for the probe. […]