In the week before the holidays, a deal was concluded resulting in one of Latvia's leading timber industry companies, “Stiga RM”, acquiring 505 hectares of Latvian forest land in the Zemgale and Kurzeme regions for a total sum of 4.06 million euros. In competition with foreign and domestic investors, “Stiga RM” acquired forest areas that were previously owned by a company managed by Finnish investors.

This type of transaction is considered a significant event in the Latvian forestry sector: an auction where a domestic company buys Latvian forest previously acquired by Scandinavian investors is a rarity. Furthermore, until now, larger forest property portfolios have typically been sold through surveys, by personally approaching representatives of well-known funds or large companies on the market. However, this time, the format of an open auction allowed any serious interested party to participate and compete for the purchase of the substantial property portfolio in fair competition, thus ensuring a transparent transaction process.

“Stiga RM is a company with local capital, and pride in our land permeates our daily operations and growth objectives – we participated in the auction because we want Latvian land to remain with Latvian owners who will grow the property volume and increase its value. We will continue to participate in forest land auctions, striving to outbid foreign investors and be the first to acquire these properties,” emphasizes “Stiga RM” owner Andris Ramoliņš.

A total of more than 10 bidders took part in the auction, with four candidates participating in the active bidding. The auction had an unconventional format, as the starting sum was not determined by the forest owners themselves – each of the applicants first appraised the property and submitted the initial sum for which they were prepared to buy the forest in their application. As a result, the starting price for the 505 ha property was set at 3.7 million euros.

With the completion of the acquisition transaction, “Stiga RM” now owns an area of more than 10,100 hectares, the majority of which is forest land.