Bolderaja Ltd puts 140 million into new plant

Bolderaja Ltd. CEO Risards Slotvinskis said the Latvian company would build the plant to help with the production of oriented strand boards.

The construction of the new plant, which is scheduled to be completed sometime in the first three quarters of 2009, will still require about 5 million euros of additional investment. Slotvinskis said that the company did not plan on any further expansions after the plant was completed.

"After making this investment, the company will take a rest for some time, because investments have taken very much money in recent years," the Bolderaja Ltd CEO said.

He said that in about two years, however, the company may have to build a new office building to replace the current one, which is in bad condition.

Bolderaja Ltd chipboard maker invested 116 million euros in the first phase of its OSB plant. Latvia's Hansabanka co-funded the project by providing 55 million euros, while the rest was paid from the owners' savings and funds.

Bolderaja Ltd makes chipboards. The company launched operations on Feb. 1, 2006.

The company posted a turnover of 81.4 million lats (115.8 million euros) for the last fiscal year that started on October 1, 2007, and ended on September 30, 2008, which is a 2.3 times boost from the previous fiscal year,

According to the Latvian Business Register, Bolderaja Ltd is owned by Cypriot company Aureja Ltd., belonging to international wood-processing concern Kronospan. Bolderaja's registered capital is 28.815 million lats. Kronospan owns 26 chipboard plants in 24 countries.