Good for Business, Investments, Latvia, Markets and Companies

Although foreign direct investment in Latvia increased last year, the increase was not as rapid as in 2013, for example.

During the past couple of years, as compared to, for example, 2009 – when the amount of investments increased by more than one billion euros, the pace at which investment is accrued has slightly decreased in Latvia.

The number of foreign investors who have invested in Latvia-registered companies' share capital reached 26,817 at the end of 2014. In a total of 6,869 cases, the amount of investments reached more than one billion euros last year.

A number of companies attracted foreign direct investment repeatedly last year. According to Lursoft, out of 5,560 companies which drew investment last year, 726 had attracted investments also before 2014.

The largest investment deal in 2014 was S.P.I. Regional Business Unit investment in Amber Beverage Group share capital in the amount of EUR 104.536 million. Investors say that Amber Beverage Group was established as a merger between Latvijas balzams, beverage distributors SPI Distribution Latvia, SPI Distribution Estonia, and Bennet Distributors in Lithuania, as well as the specialized beverage store chains Latvijas balzams and Darija in Lithuania.