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Jeld Wen
JELD-WEN Inc. Invests € 40 Million in Latvia
In July 2004 the American Company JELD-WEN Inc., a company with over 150 divisions and more than 20,000 employees worldwide, invested 40 million EUR in a greenfield site project in Latvia.
This project was to build a wood treatment facility that would in turn supply the other JELD-WEN factories located across Europe.
By January 2006 production had started at the factory in Aizkraukle, just 90 km East of the capital Riga. In total the whole timescale of the project from its concept to the start of production took only 18 months. For a factory of this size employing 72 people, that is fast implementation! One of the key criteria for selecting Latvia as a location for the factory was its abundance of natural timber resources. Latvia is still one of the most forested countries in the world with 45% of the total land area covered in forest compared to a European average of only 33%.
In addition to the natural resources, JELD-WEN also benefited from the lower cost base Latvia could offer, including one of the lowest CIT rates in Europe (currently 15%).
John Pierce JELD-WEN’s Vice-President says:
"Assistance from LIAA has been outstanding! From the beginning of our contact with LIAA, when we had not yet selected Latvia for our investment, the professional assistance and support demonstrated by LIAA went far to convince me that Latvia would be a wise place to invest because of a government that understands business and understands the contribution that foreign investment can make in growing the economy of Latvia and raising the quality of life for Latvia citizens. The LIAA staff, that I have met, have always been very professional, very capable, and very reliable."
