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The result will be that the company will be able to deliver larger volumes of finished products to clients in the Baltic States, Nordic countries and Great Britain.

SIA Hanzas Elektronika plans to hire 25 new workers at its subsidiary, the Ventspils Electronics Factory, in 2015, increasing staff numbers to 110. Manufacturing facilities will be expanded in Ogre, and a larger warehouse will be built. Mārupe has been chosen as the site for a new engineering centre. The company already employs more than 25 engineers, and new ones will be needed.  For the past 14 years, Hanzas Elektronika has been manufacturing commissioned electronics in Ogre and Ventspils.  As a global company, it receives orders for the manufacturing of high-tech and intellectual technology products for its clients.

“From the very beginning, the company has developed its manufacturing facilities in Ogre and Ventspils,” says SIA Hanzas Elektronika director Ilmārs Osmanis.  “One of the rules for several of our clients is that the manufacturing facilities are at a sufficient distance from one another. If one factory cannot handle the job for one reason or another, then the other one can do so. As we have expanded operations, we have decided to set up an engineering centre in Mārupe. We chose the location to be closer to the Rīga International Airport, because we deliver most of our products by air.”

Financing for world-class systems and a high level of intellectual potential

“Corporate lending in the manufacturing sector is one of our key priorities, and we welcome our partnership with this global-level company in Latvia,” says Citadele Bank board chairman Guntis Beļavskis. “Manufacturing of any kind is of essential importance for Latvia’s economy, and the contribution of this globally competitive company toward export growth in Latvia is also fundamentally significant.”

“SIA Hanzas Elektronika has experience that allows it to develop in a targeted way in future, and an enormous contribution is that it educates and employs highly qualified engineers, technology specialists and others – people who can invest their knowledge and work at manufacturing facilities here in Ogre, Ventspils and soon also Mārupe,” Beļavskis continues. “We are proud of the fact that our financing supports not just world-class products, but also a high level of intellectual potential.”

Citadele Bank refinanced a EUR 4.7 million loan for Hanzas Elektronika and issued a loan of EUR 1. 5 million so that Osmanis (SIA Macro Rīga) can buy out all shares in SIA Hanzas Elektronika.

Europeans trust Latvian businesses

Hanzas Elektronika is a full-service company, and it is one of the most modern manufactures of high-tech products in the Baltic States. It is important that that the company not only handles large orders, it also helps new companies to develop.  These include start-ups in Latvia, as well as in other countries such as Finland.

“Sometimes our experience allows us to see that an idea is not appropriate or is not completely developed, and then we ask the new businessperson to think carefully about what needs to be done,” says Osmanis. “In any event, a partnership with new businesses is always a risk, but we often take it on.”

The businessman also believes that businesses in Latvia have many opportunities:  “You simply have to make use of the advantages that are on offer.  We have developed our company gradually. We have received co-financing from the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund, and that allowed us to increase output. Orders shrank by 40% during the crisis, yes, but we looked for new opportunities, and so we have gradually increased our output once again.”

Asked how Hanzas Elektronika convinces clients throughout Europe to entrust the manufacturing of technologically complicated and valuable products specifically in Latvia, Osmanis replies: “The foundation of our products is basically invaluable intellectual property, and businesses do not want to take on additional risks by manufacturing the products in China, let’s say. Why would a businessperson take risks in relation to quality? Why would the person take the risk that the idea might be stolen if we can offer the same price as companies in China do?  From the perspective of our clients, moreover, we are in a more advantageous location if the plan is to sell the products in Europe. Transport costs from China would be much higher for any European-based company than is the case if they partner with a company in Latvia. For us, too, it is far simpler to work with partners here in Europe.  Most of the orders for Hanzas Elektronika come from industrial, telecommunications, medical and defence companies.  We are very proud, for instance, that we partner with one of Latvia’s most profitable companies – the ‘Mikrotīkls’ company, which manufactures wireless Internet systems. True, most of our clients want to remain anonymous.”

SIA Hanzas Elektronika was established in 1999 and manufactures equipment for telecommunications, Internet services, automated water delivery registration, the manufacturing of drones, etc., in Ogre and Ventspils. The company sells automated manufacturing capacities, consultations and knowledge, and the clients receive products that they can then sell under their own brand name.