Sweden’s largest forest owners association and forest industry group “Sodra” plans to sell forest properties and related businesses in the Baltic States, according to an announcement on the company’s website.
The statement mentions that “Sodra” is looking for those interested to move forward with the sale process.
“Sodra Skog” business manager Peter Karlsson notes that “Sodra” mission is to take care of the forests of its members, not to be the owner of the forest itself. “That’s why we’ve initiated the sale, and we’re in the process of finding the right buyer. But we are not in a hurry,” he said.
In Estonia and Latvia, “Sodra” owns a total of about 153 000 ha of land, most of which is located in Latvia.
In turn, Kristaps Klaus, vice-president of the Latvian Wood Industry Federation (LFF), pointed out on X (formerly Twitter) that about once in a decade there are opportunities to buy back large areas of Latvian land from the Swedes, and currently about 2% of the total area of Latvia has been put on the market.
“The perfect moment to create a new, semi-state-owned company that would raise capital through the stock exchange to buy this property,” he said.