The investment and forest management company Ingka Investments has reached an agreement with Sweden’s largest association of forest owners, Sodra, on the acquisition of 135,000 hectares of land in Latvia and 18,000 hectares in Estonia. Approximately 89% of this land consists of forest areas.
Completion of the transaction still requires approval from the relevant supervisory authorities.
Ingka Investments is the investment arm of Ingka Group, the largest IKEA store operator, which in total manages more than 331,500 hectares of forest land.
Ingka Investments CEO Peter van der Poel: “Our company’s unique structure has laid strong foundations for long-term thinking – when we invest, we think in terms of centuries, not decades. These investments in forestry in the Baltic states are exactly such an example of long-term commitment. We want to contribute to the region’s economy and preserve healthy forests for the next 100 years, while also supporting the accessibility and sustainability of IKEA’s business.”
Ingka Group is the world’s largest IKEA retailer, operating in 31 countries and generating around 90% of IKEA’s total retail turnover. Unlike other companies, the group is owned by a charitable foundation, which makes it possible to reinvest all income in further development instead of paying dividends to private shareholders. In this way, the company has its own funding available for significant long-term investments, such as the acquisition of forest land.
This long-term investment approach also enables an investment strategy that differs from others. Instead of focusing on timber exports and quick returns, Ingka Investments plans to develop long-term cooperation with Baltic wood processing companies and panel manufacturers, promoting local timber processing within the region, creating skilled jobs and strengthening local expertise.
Head of Ingka Investments’ Latvian forestry company Niks Šauva: “We are aware that, with this transaction, Ingka Investments will become the largest private forest manager in Latvia. This places a great responsibility on us before Latvian society, both as careful forest managers and as members of the local community. We have already been working closely with local wood processing companies and forestry service providers, such as young stand tenders, logging companies, forest inventory providers, and others. We will certainly expand this cooperation, thereby developing local forest management and timber processing here in Latvia.”
Until now, Ingka Investments owned 110,000 hectares of land in Latvia, and Ingka Investments Latvia’s turnover in the 2025 financial year reached 11.9 million euros. The company employed 40 local staff, and additional jobs were created through cooperation with local companies and service providers. Over the course of a year, the company has planted more than 2.5 million seedlings, which, together with natural regeneration, ensured a total net forest growth of more than 250,000 cubic metres. 21% of Ingka Investments’ existing forests in Latvia are managed with special attention to nature protection and environmental goals, including almost 3,000 hectares where commercial activity is completely excluded.
At the beginning of this year, Ingka Investments allocated 16,000 hectares, or about 15% of the company’s forests in Latvia, for broader research carried out by the European Forest Institute and the organization Preferred by Nature. Within the project, new, more nature-friendly forestry practices are being tested to reduce impacts on biodiversity. The goal is to implement new and proven forestry methods across all Ingka Investments forests.
At the same time, in cooperation with the Latvian State Forest Research Institute Silava, the study “Technologies for the conservation of biological diversity in conventional commercial management of hemiboreal forests” is being carried out, examining which forestry methods most effectively ensure the preservation of biodiversity.
Peter van der Poel: “We are convinced that responsible forest management delivers both environmental and economic success. It is in our interest to manage forests in the long term, maintaining and improving their health while ensuring the availability of this renewable resource for furniture production and other needs. Our aim is to ensure that this important resource remains forest forever.”
“For Sodra, this transaction will make it possible to focus more on increasing the value of our members’ forests, thereby strengthening our long-term competitiveness. We are very pleased to have found a buyer whose values fully match our view of responsible and sustainable forestry, and this gives hope that forests in the Baltics will continue to be managed in the same spirit in the future,” says Sodra President and CEO Lotta Lyrå.
Originally published at https://inc-baltics.com/zviedriem-piederosos-latvijas-mezus-parperk-citi-zviedri-ar-ikea-saistits-uznemums/
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