Investments, Latvia, Markets and Companies, Real Estate

Besides state-owned companies that own land plots all over Latvia, out of ten companies that own the largest areas of land in Latvia only two are now majority-owned by local private individuals or legal entities, reports LETA.

Foreign companies continue to buy impressive land areas in Latvia, at an ever-accelerating pace.

In just one year, foreign companies' top ten subsidiaries in Latvia have bought more than 58,000 hectares of land. A year ago, 25 top foreign companies bought a total of 36,000 hectares of land in Latvia.

Only a couple foreign companies have reduced their properties in Latvia over the past year, according to the Land Service's data.

Myrtillus, a subsidiary of the Swedish company Bergvik Skog AB, has bought most land in Latvia over the past year – 35,600 hectares altogether. U.S. company Phemus Corporation subsidiary Empetrum bought a total of 11,800 hectares of land in Latvia.

Myrtillus tops the list of foreign landowners in Latvia, the company owns a total of 63,148 hectares of land in Latvia. Foran Real Estate is in second place with 54,105 hectares. The company belongs to Norway's Storebrand Livsforsikring AS and Latvian businessman Gundars Skudrins (7.8% of shares), and it has continued to increase its properties in Latvia: from 5,195 hectares to 11,102 hectares in 2007, another 23,600 hectares in 2008 (making the company largest landowner in Latvia, excluding the state). In 2009, the company bought another 14,600 hectares of land in Latvia, plus almost 4,800 hectares in 2010.

Riga municipal company Rigas mezi is in third place with 45,889 hectares of land – an increase of almost 13,900 hectares from 2009.

Fourth comes Fragaria with 16,259 hectares, followed by Empetrum (11,817 hectares), Sodra mezs (10,312 hectares), Istra mezs (6,472 hectares), Ruda (6,173 hectares), Artis JP (5,975 hectares), and Jelgava businessman Zigmars Trapencieris' company Meza fonds with 5,502 hectares of land.

The largest landowner in Latvia, the state-owned joint-stock company Latvijas Valsts mezi is not included in the list because all land that belongs to the company has been registered in the name of the state of Latvia.