IFC TO INVEST IN LATVIAN TELECOM SECTOR -- IFC's First Investment in Latvia --
Amy Conran
(202) 473-9119
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 13 -- The International
Finance Corporation (IFC) has signed an agreement to invest US$16.4 million
in the equity of Tilts Communications A/S, a company formed to assist in
the modernization and privatization of the former state-owned telecommunications
company, Lattelekom.
Tilts, which acquired 49 percent of Lattelekom last year, is 63 percent
owned by Cable and Wireless, U.K., a leading international provider of
public telecommunications services; 27 percent by Telecom Finland, Finland's
largest telecommunications operator; and 10 percent by IFC.
Tilts, in partnership with the Latvian government, intends to modernize
Lattelekom's telephone network and commercialize the organization, as well
as eliminate inadequacies in international and domestic long distance connections,
rural phone systems, and public payphones.
This is IFC's first investment in Latvia, which became a member of IFC
in September 1993, and Lattelekom is the first of Latvia's major state
enterprises to be privatized.
"IFC expects the privatization of Lattelekom will lead to modernization
of the existing telecommunications network of Latvia which will support
the development of a modern market economy," said Everett J. Santos,
Director of IFC's Infrastructure Department.
IFC is a member of the World Bank Group and is the largest multilateral
source of equity and loan financing for private sector projects in developing
countries.
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