The  international  consortium, lead by the Riga Stock Exchange and set

up  for  the  purpose  of  organising  domestic  and international cash

offering  of  51%  of  state-owned  shares  in Latvian Shipping Company

(LASCO), is going to arrange road shows, in order to meet the potential

LASCO  investors.  The  road  shows  will be held in London, Frankfurt,

Vienna, as well as in the Nordic countries.



The  auction  of  51%of  LASCO  shares  will  be  run on the Riga Stock

Exchange  on June 25, 2002, to be followed by share listing on the Riga

Stock  Exchange  Official  list. First trading is scheduled for July 1.

The  shares  sold  at  the international tranche will be converted into

GDRs.  The  GDRs  will  be  listed on the Official list of London Stock

Exchange   SEAQ  International,  subject  to  the  company  shareholder

structure after the public offering. It is expected that the conversion

rate will be 25 shares to 1 GDR; Deutsche Bank will be the custodian.



On  June  7  Latvian  Privatisation  Agency  approved  the price spread

recommended   by   the   consortium.  For  the  domestic  tranche,  the

recommended  bottom price is LVL 0.30, and the top price - LVL 0.45 per

share.  For  the international tranche, the recommended bottom price is

USD  0.48 and the top price - USD 0.72 per share. The breakdown between

the domestic and international offering still has to be approved by the

Privatisation Agency Management Board.



The  domestic tranche will take place from June 12 till June 25, 14:00,

which  is  the deadline for submitting the bids. Latvian residents will

be  able  to  bid for the shares by submitting their orders to the Riga

Stock   exchange   members   -   banks  and  brokerage  companies.  The

international  tranche will take place from June 17 till June 15, 14:00

(Latvian  time).  Foreign  investors  will be able submit their bids to

Williams de Broe .



Krista Grīntāle

Marketing and Information Department

Riga Stock Exchange

Phone 7212431