SOFIA (Bulgaria), December 7 (SeeNews) – Finnish construction group YIT plans to enter markets in central and eastern Europe (CEE) by 2010 as part of its growth strategy, the company said on Friday.
“We are actively looking for expansion in construction services and residential developments in all the CEE countries, but we have still not specified where and when,” Petra Thoren, Vice President Investor Relations, told SeeNews by telephone from Helsinki.
Now, YIT operates in eight countries - Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia.
The company plans to expand in CEE in 2008-2010 because of the similarities between this region and Russia, where YIT has a strong presence as the largest foreign company in the housing business, Thoren said.
YIT (www.yitgroup.com) plans to enter CEE countries through acquisition of local companies or joint venture schemes with local partners, depending on the situation, Thoren added.
“If it is an acquisition, we buy the whole company, and if it is a joint venture, we might have a majority, and our partners – minority,” Thoren said but declined to provide information whether YIT already has started talks with particular companies.
YIT’s revenue for the first nine months of 2007 rose 12.5% year-on-year to 2.7 billion euro ($4.0 billion). Its operating profit through September was 229 million euro, up by 33.1% from the same period last year.
($ = 0.6828 euro)