Statoil has enrolled institutional investors in a plan to buy a 42.5 percent stake in UAB Mestilla, a company building the Baltic States’ biggest biodiesel facility.
SEB Venture Captial and the Norwegian oil company have agreed a letter of intent for the share in Mestilla. Owners of Lithuanian agricultural company Linas Agro will be the other shareholder, with a 57.5% stake, a Statoil statement said.
Construction at the plant began early last year in the free economic zone near the coastal town of Klaipeda. Plans call for production by autumn 2007.
The raw material is vegetable oil pressed on the spot from the rape see of locals in the Norwegian model. No shortage is anticipated in this area near Northeast Europe’s breadbasket.
Lithuanian regulators must approve the Statoil stake.
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