OREANDA-NEWS.  May 13, 2013. Neil Cooper, Bankruptcy Administrator of AB Bank SNORAS (in bankruptcy) confirms that the process of selling the 34% shareholding of “Lietuvos rytas”, one of Lithuania’s largest media groups, is starting. The shares are owned by “SNORAS Media”.

Neil Cooper, Bankruptcy Administrator, said,

“We are commencing an active sale process for the shareholding in “Lietuvos rytas”. Several investors have already expressed interest in “SNORAS Media”and we plan to to start discussing this opportunity with them as well as other potential investors that we are aware of.

The Lithuanian media suffered badly during the period of the economic crisis, thus a quick sale of this company’s shares would not have maximised the value recovered for Snoras’ creditors. The media market is recovering therefore the company’s value should have increased and the sale process should now be more competitive. We will work hard to ensure that the transaction is completed for the benefit of creditors in the best possible way.”

“SNORAS Media” was established in 2009. On 9 July 2009 JSC “SNORO Media” (formerly – JSC “SNORO Media investicijos”) concluded an agreement on purchasing 34% of shares of the largest group of the Lithuanian media “Lietuvos rytas”. The deal was completed on 5 January 2010. Now JSC “SNORAS Media” is the largest single shareholder of JSC “Lietuvos rytas”.
 
The “Lietuvos rytas” group issue the daily newspaper “Lietuvos rytas” and the weekly magazine “TV antena”. It also manages the internet news portal www.lrytas.lt and TV channel “Lietuvos rytas” television. “Lietuvos rytas” group also controls the largest printing house in Lithuania, which prints popular Lithuanian newspapers and magazines, and provides printing services to third parties.