Company briefs - 2011-10-06

Bringing the taste of the golden arches to eastern Latvia, the first McDonald’s restaurant outside Riga will open in Daugavpils, says Daugavpils City Council spokeswoman Liga Korsaka, reports LETA. Tomasz Nawrocki, the company’s manager in the Baltic States, and its marketing manager Virginija Girulska, told  Daugavpils Mayor Zanna Kulakova about the activities of all eight McDonald’s restaurants in the region and emphasized that this would be the first two-story restaurant in Latvia. McDonald’s based its choice for the site with the fact that Daugavpils is the second largest city in Latvia, and market research shows that this place is suitable for developing a business. The restaurant will initially employ 35 people with its grand opening on Nov. 15.

The Estonian national energy company Eesti Energia, in cooperation with investor and media mogul Hans Luik, plans to construct a large ethanol production facility in Narva, reports ERR. The two parties have already concluded agreements with farmers. Under the contracts, they will supply 300,000 tons of rye and wheat, from which 100,000 tons of liquid biofuel will be produced. Construction of the plant, which will be carried out under the supervision of a foreign general contractor and foreign technical specialists, is expected to begin at the end of this year and will take 18 to 24 months. Cost estimates for the project range between 60 and 80 million euros. Luik is the owner of Ekspress Grupp, Estonia’s largest media concern.