Dear investors and readers of “Latvia Invest”!

Dear investors and readers of “Latvia Invest”!

Lush summer with long days and short nights has arrived and so has the second issue of “Latvia Invest”. I would like to open it by saying that among extensive international media coverage on events related to Latvia’s economy at least one very positive achievement has been somewhat overlooked. I am proud to say that according to the study carried out by the World Bank, Latvia was ranked as the 7th best in the world in terms of overall service performance among national investment promotion agencies (more information here). I strongly believe that LIAA was able to achieve such recognition due to its professional team both in Riga and abroad and by continuously working in close tandem with many pro-investment minded municipalities and private enterprises in Latvia. We are determined to maintain and further improve our services to investors by delivering the value-added that really matters.

Beyond Greenfield and Brownfield investments

Have you ever considered investing in Latvia via acquisition or joint venture opportunity? Even though the main focus of investment promotion has been directed at Greenfield and Brownfield projects, the latest being a 60 MEUR Greenfield project by Bau-How AS from Norway, we are also offering investors attractive merger and acquisition opportunities across wide range of sectors as part of our comprehensive business service. These opportunities are especially lucrative for sector-oriented and competence-driven investors as well as financial and institutional investor groups.

What should you do?

It is as easy as “Plug & Play” – just give us a call! First, we would like to learn about your investment objectives and the sector or areas of your interest. Second, due to our close cooperation with hundreds of local companies for the last 16 years, we are able to identify and approach those players potentially interested in finding new investors. Likewise, we recognize that companies are also experiencing difficulties in attracting bank financing to fund promising growth projects. In such cases you as a partner investing in the business can become the growth catalyst, which in turn will provide you with profit opportunities and easier start-up.

What will LIAA do?

We are your matchmaker. It is important at this stage to make it very clear that the agency always functions as a business contact facilitator – we accelerate further development of your business. There is no intension for us to take away work from local or international companies specializing in M&A deals and performing full-service merger and acquisition functions starting from finding potential companies of interest, initiating contacts, performing due diligence, negotiating and bringing the deal to close. Moreover, we can easily complement offers from M&A deal makers. For example, our German representative office performed a successful matchmaking between a Latvian company seeking strategic partners in production of bio-fuel and „EOP Biodiesel AG” from Germany. The established joint venture successfully manufactures and exports its production already since 2007. UK based Grant Instruments and Latvia's company BioSan, both makers of high-tech parts and technology for the biotech market, were matched for success by LIAA. The key reason for the merger was that it enabled Grants Instruments to use BioSan’s high-tech profile, highly valued R&D capabilities and its acquired expertise to enter the life science market without having to start from scratch. In return Grants Instruments’ invaluable experience and marketing knowledge worked very well for BioSan. 

Available M&A matchmaking today

Let me illustrate several very interesting business cooperation with and investment possibilities in Latvian companies:

• Well established high-tech electronics producer having sustainable EMS business in Baltic and Nordic countries is seeking a robust investor to provide investment in the range of 20 MEUR in exchange for majority of company stock. 5-7 year exit strategy can be negotiated.
• Well established and fully functional Latvian company in renewable energy sector is seeking a buyer in full or partially (acquisition opportunity).
• The largest developer of industrial real-estate in Latvia offers a successful chain of commercial and industrial real-estate properties for sale (acquisition opportunity). This is an attractive acquisition opportunity for real-estate equity funds or pension funds searching for a steady revenue stream.
• Recently founded company with patented technology for CNG refuelling equipment is seeking an investor with 1.7 MEUR to develop manufacturing of the product and Baltic wide sales distribution network. Business plan can be provided upon request.
• Latvian company operating a woodworking factory with long-term contracts, which allow utilisation of Latvia’s State forests until 2047, is seeking a buyer. The total area of woods – 6,850 hectares, including Kraslavas, Dagdas and Indras forestries.

If any of the above listed opportunities match your investment strategy, we would be happy to hear from you in order to connect you directly with the respective companies and their owners. Considering the nature of M&A deals, we are able to provide you with more detailed investment opportunity description without contacting the owners only for some projects.

We are actively working on widening our M&A and joint venture portfolio every day. Thus, make sure to bookmark the link: http://www.liaa.gov.lv/?object_id=49946!

Yours for successful investing,
Andris Ozols