LATVIAN rolling stock repair business Lokomotive has been bought by two Estonian firms for an undisclosed sum.
Wagon parts supplier Skinest Projekt acquired its share through the purchase of Remlok, which owned a 49% stake in the company, while freight shipper Spacecom acquired a 36·4% stake in Lokomotive from Parangon.
One of two rolling stock maintenance firms in Latvia, Lokomotive is based in the city of Daugavpils where it employs around 2500 people. In 2003 it repaired 134 diesel and 203 electric locomotives, reporting profits of 183500lats on a turnover of 11·4m lats. In the first quarter of 2004 the firm reported a loss of 322000 lats on a turnover of 2·5m. Up to 70% of Lokomotive’s business is for Russian customers, but work is also carried out for the Baltic states, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
The new owners are planning a €3m investment programme for the plant. Chairman of Skinest Projekt Oleg Osinovski told the local media that ’Lokomotive has lost a significant market share both in the Baltic states and in the east’ in recent years, but ’by modernising the plant we hope to regain its former position.’
