LITHUANIA: New tender for MPK as Eksimeta deal falls through

Marijampoles Pieno Konservai (MPK) is back on the market after talks of a private sale of a 64.5% stake to Eksimeta collapsed.The Lithuanian dairy producer has floundered recently, and the buyout deal was abandoned after Henrikas Karpavicius, director general of Eksimeta, refused to inherit the 40m litas debt accrued by MPK and owed to the ministries of finance and agriculture, to be paid back between 2005 and 2020. Karpavicius added that MPK must begin to work for export markets to survive, and up its production to at least 5-7,000 tons of powdered milk and 80m units of canned milk each year.The Lithuanian State Property Fund (SPF) is hoping that a new tender will bring in more attention, but stresses that a number of potential investors have expressed interest.