RIMI Baltic and NIB sign loan agreement

NIB and the regional supermarket operator RIMI Baltic AB have agreed on a loan of EUR 40 million.

Representatives of NIB and RIMI Baltic AB signed the loan agreement today, 14 March 2005, in Riga. The NIB loan is aimed at financing the expansion of RIMI Baltic in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

In recent years, the retail operator’s owners, Swedish ICA and Finnish Kesko, were demonstrating a good pace of growth in the Baltic countries. Last year, their combined net sales in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania amounted to EUR 690 million (SEK 6.2 billion).

In January 2005, ICA and Kesko merged their forces in the Baltic retail market, launching a joint venture, RIMI Baltic AB, of which they each own 50%. Opening of new stores in the three Baltic countries will serve the target of the joint venture’s owners to achieve a 25% market share in the regional market in the next few years.

“The Finnish and Swedish companies combine their efforts for leadership in the Baltic retail sector, which is a very good example of cross-border investments. We believe the loan will give a strong impetus to the development of the joint venture,” says Lars Norén, Vice President Nordic Lending at NIB.

RIMI Baltic is the market leader in Estonia and Latvia and one of the important market players in Lithuania. The company presently operates 164 stores, including hypermarkets, supermarkets and discount stores, and employs 8,300 people in the three countries.

NIB is a multilateral financial institution now owned by eight member countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden. The Baltic countries became members of the Bank on 1 January 2005.