The business daily Aripaev announced the fast deterioration of the loan portfolio quality of BIG bank, one of the smallest banks in Estonia. BIG CEO Targo Raus said the bank does not make provisions by the same methods as 2000 since the portfolio structure and regulations have significantly changed since then. Raus explained that in 2000, they were not yet a bank. The group became a bank in 2005. BIG's loan portfolio grew from half a billion kroons early in 2005 to two billion kroons (127.8 million euro) within three years. A major expansion occurred last year when the bank managed to raise 1.3 billion kroons among Scandinavian and US investors with three bond issues.
Latvia's largest supplier of spring water Venden invested 1.612 million euros in new robotized spring water filling plant in the central city of Cesis. Venden marketing director Andris Priekulis said that 927,000 euro was invested by Venden and 685,000 euros were received as the EU Structural Fund support. Priekulis underscored that the introduction of the new technologies will not result in job cuts. There are over 200 people working for the company. The installation of the complex took almost two years and Venden says that it is the largest and most modern water filling plant in the Baltics.
