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The Cabinet of Ministers approved the draft texts of an agreement on the creation of the national investor and a shareholders agreement between the Government of the Republic of Lithuania and private company UAB “NDX energija” as well as annexes to those agreements (draft articles of association, act on the finalisation of the transaction, and other secondary documents). Before the documents were submitted to the Cabinet meeting for deliberations, they had been scrutinised by the National Investor Supervisory Committee. The Government Decision thus serves as enforcement of the Law on the Nuclear Power Plant providing the legal and organisational preconditions for the implementation of the project on the construction of a new nuclear power plant in Lithuania.

The above documents are practically the same as the drafts submitted to the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania in the end of 2007. The amendments and supplements therein reflect the goals and tasks of the National Investor Company LEO LT set forth in the Law on the Nuclear Power Plant of the Republic of Lithuania, they also take into consideration proposals, included in the letter of the President of Lithuania to the Prime Minister.

The draft establishment agreement and other documents state that the operational goal of the National Investor Company is to work for its own benefit and that of all its shareholders (the continuous long-term growth of its share value and dividends as well as high liquidity of its shares) in a socially responsible way, and to implement a strategic goal of Lithuania, defined as an eventual complete integration of the Lithuanian Power Grid into the power grids of the EU Member States and their internal energy markets.

Furthermore, the draft agreements stipulate the commitment of the parties to carry out the assumed obligations through cooperation aiming at the following outcomes: complex integration of Lithuania‘s electrical energy system in the EU electricity transmission grid and internal electrical energy markets; immediate implementation of power bridge projects with Sweden and Poland as well as the construction of a new nuclear power plant; as well as an independent, safe, reliable and effective energy supply to Lithuanian electricity consumers for an unlimited period of time.

The draft agreement establishing national investor has been amended by a new paragraph entitling LEO LT to the appropriation of the distributable result of AB Lietuvos Energija, AB Rytų Skirstomieji Tinklai and AB VST for FY 2007 as a shareholder of the above companies. The Government has instructed the Ministry of Economy (manager of the state-owned shares in AB Lietuvos Energija and AB Rytų Skirstomieji Tinklai) to take a decision preventing distributable profit of the above companies for FY 2007 to be paid out as dividends.

Also, taking into consideration the proposal submitted by the Lithuanian President, it is planned that the part of the company‘s profits appropriated towards dividends will constitute not more than 40 percent of the reported net profit for the financial year until the agreements on the construction of the new nuclear power plant have been concluded and the financing of the facility has been secured.

Other basic provisions of the draft agreements have not changed: the shares of LEO LT are to be owned by the Republic of Lithuania (61.7%) and by privately owned “NDX energija” (38.3%); the Kaunas Hydroelectric Plant and the Kruonis Pumped Storage Plant will be excluded from LEO LT and remain at the disposal of the state; certain conditions and restrictions concerning the disposal of the company’s shares have been laid down; it is stipulated that only the national and foreign capital that conforms with European and transatlantic integration criteria may take part in the capital of the national investor company.

On behalf of the State the Government authorised Minister of Economy Vytas Navickas to sign the agreement on the creation of the national investor, the shareholders agreement and other documents necessary for the finalisation of the transaction with UAB “NDX energija”. They are expected to be signed within a few weeks after relevant preparatory works.