Banks, Business, Latvia, Markets and Companies

At the end of the last year, Rietumu banka acquired 100% of shares in the company Arena Riga through its subsidiary AR Entertainment Limited. As a result the bank was able to add the multi-functional venue to its property.

Arena Riga was bought from Genadijs Bondariks, who owned 60% of Arena Riga shares; his wife Jelena, who owned 10%; as well as the firm Arena Invests, which owned 30%. Ar Entertainment Limited is registered in Cyprus.

The details of the deal were not revealed.

As Biznes&Baltija wrote, the arena was built in 2006 in preparation for the ice hockey world championships. The building's total area is 22,570 square meters. Last year, 129 events took place at the venue.

The turnover of Arena Riga in 2008 was LVL 2.61 million, with a profit of LVL 447,000.

"It is clear that a competitor to the arena will not appear in Latvia in the near future. An events calendar has already been drawn up for a long time to come. Taking into consideration these advantages, plus the arena's effective management, Arena Riga is making a profit and does not have any credit liabilities. The bank has a reason to consider that this business has good prospects" stressed Grodnikovs.

He reminded readers that Arena Riga also consists of a large territory – six hectares between Skanstes Street and Vesetas Street, for the development of which an "ambitious, well-founded development plan" has been drawn up. This includes the building of the largest leisure, shopping and office complex in the Baltic States.

As mentioned by the newspaper, the Bondariks family acquired their shares in 2008 from entrepreneur Igors Ivanovs, who has been convicted of several crimes. Two years previously Ivanovs had bought the arena from the company Merks for EUR 17.61 million (LVL 12.3 million).