EU – Baltic States, Investments, Latvia, Markets and Companies

The newspaper Diena portal "Diena.lv" reports that such a confirmation was made during a meeting in Luxembourg yesterday.

The Rowlands were offered to buy the two companies, they weighed the offer and accepted it. The investment was made via a fund that was established with focus on the Baltics, Latvia, the mass media, Rowland explained.

The acquisition of Diena and Dienas Bizness is just the first in a number of transactions that the newly established "Baltic Media Investments Fund" will conduct. The next two years, the fund will contribute to the development of "the leading media enterprises in all three Baltic countries", as "Diena.lv" writes.

At the same time, investing money in other countries of the region, not just Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, is also being considered, writes LETA.

Asked where the offer came from to provide the funds for the acquisition of Diena and Dienas Bizness, Rowland said that the offer had been made via a bank and Estonian investment banker Kalle Norberg. Said bank – Banque Havilland, was acquired by the Rowlands this past July, but the offer to buy the newspapers was made at the beginning of summer.

Rowland confirmed that new media acquisitions are being weighed now. Although he declined to reveal any specific mass media, he did say that there will be more than ten such acquisitions altogether.

The Rowlands are uninterested in the newspaper or any other mass media business, Rowland explained, referring to editorial independence of the newspaper. The agreement with "Bonnier", the former owner of Diena and Dienas Bizness, strictly says that the newspaper's independence must not be endangered under any circumstances. If this provision is not fully observed, the investors could be sued and lose millions of lats, Rowland said.

As reported, Dienas mediji Editor in Chief Nellija Locmele and the Editor in Chief of the newspaper Diena, Anita Brauna, on Friday submitted their resignations and left the newspaper. Several other employees submitted their resignations as well, including the respectable commentator and op ed page editor Pauls Raudseps.

Dienas Bizness Editor in Chief Dace Andersone is presently the acting editor in chief for Diena.

The journalists who have left the newspaper Diena communicate with their readers via the "citaDiena.wordpress.com" blog, but they do not rule out launching a new newspaper in the future, as Locmele told the business information portal "Nozare.lv" last weekend.

As already reported, the joint-stock company Diena board chairman Aleksandrs Tralmaks announced on October 9 that the Rowland family from England had become the owner of Diena and Dienas Bizness.

The Rowlands had provided a loan so Tralmaks' company Nedela S.A. could acquire the two newspapers. Now the loan has been restructured and the Rowland family is the two newspapers' owner.

Tralmaks informed that he would continue as Diena board chairman in charge of the newspaper's further development.