Page 6 - bne_newspaper_July_27_2018

The Regions This Week
July 27, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 6
Central Europe
Latvia will ask for international assistance to help contain fires that have damaged hundreds of hectares of forests and peatland. Most of northern Europe has been suffering from a rare heatwave for weeks that has seen temperatures of over 30 degrees Celsius recorded as far as 300 kilometres inside the Arctic Circle.
US investor Bill Browder filed a criminal complaint with the Estonian authorities over an alleged case of money laundering by the Estonian branch of Danske Bank. As much as €7.1bn may have been laundered via the bank’s Estonian operations, Danish and international media reported in July.
Budapest-listed holding company Appeninn took a majority stake in a former communist elite resort at Lake Balaton. Appeninn, controlled
by Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s friend Lorinc Meszaros, acquired the stake held by Israeli hold- ing Pro-Mot Hungaria in Club Aliga.
The EBRD loaned PLN500mn (€116.6mn) to Warsaw-listed Grupa Azoty to finance investment in environmentally friendly technologies and in research and development. The funds will finance investments to drive a “significant” reduction of CO2 emissions from the company’s installations as well as efficiency improvements and an expansion of research and development activities, the EBRD said.
Components manufacturer Continental broke ground at its first plant in Lithuania. Continental will produce auto components including door and seat controls at the €95mn plant in Lithuania’s second city Kaunas.
The Slovak interior ministry sent three aero- planes to Albania to pick up over 80 holidaymak- ers whose travel agency went bankrupt. Uniqua, which insured Albania Travel, initially approached commercial carriers, but it was complicated to hire planes in the midst of the holiday season.
Czech utility CEZ is mulling selling its Bulgarian assets to India Power Corporation. CEZ’s original deal with family-owned Bulgarian firm Inercom was blocked by regulators, so the Czech company is now considering selling to India Power which was next in line after Inercom according to the outcome of the auction.
Kesko Senukai Lithuania got the go ahead to ac- quire 1A Group, one of the largest online retailers in the Baltic states from the Estonian Competition Authority. Kesko Senukai Lithuania already owns a chain of DIY stores in the Baltic states and is look- ing to strengthen its market position in northern Europe.
Hungarian venture capital fund Lead Ventures is ready to invest CZK2.5bn (€97mn) in Central Europe, especially in Czech and Slovak start-ups. The fund launches in Czechia on July 24 with the first large investment due to be made in October.
Construction prices in Latvia grew 4.3% y/y in June, data from the Baltic state’s Central Statisti- cal Bureau (CSB) showed. The long-lasting trend of the rising costs of labour – up 7.8% y/y June, compared to an annual expansion of 7.6% in the preceding month – continues to be the main driv- er of accelerating construction prices in Latvia.
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