LATVIAN SHIPPING SELL-OFF RULES COMING SOON

The elongated saga to sell the world's 19th largest shipping firm (in terms of tonnage) will seemingly take another step towards the exit door next week, as final sell-off rules for the 100-percent-owned company are expected to be approved next week. The process has been plagued by delays, and the latest announcement was met with skepticism by many industry insiders. Latvian official still claim, however, that the plan to sell 44 percent of the shipping could happen by the end of the year. The Agency has already sent out preliminary guidelines passed by the cabinet to 15 potential investors, including shippers and investment funds in Scandinavia, U.K. and the U.S.