Swedish group IKEA could get ready for new forest acquisitions in Romania

IRI Investments, the company that bought 33,000 hectares of forest in Romania last year on behalf of the Swedish group IKEA, received a capital boost of EUR 40 million in June. The company’s share capital has reached EUR 171 million, according to Ziarul Financiar. Frederik de Jong, IRI Investments board president, said last year that the IKEA Group decided to invest in forestry operations to facilitate access to wood raw material that is sustainably managed. The group paid EUR 56 million for the 33,000 hectares of forest last year. De Jong also said that the Swedish group could continue investing in forests in the future. The company’s capital boost could thus be related to more forest acquisitions. Last year the IKEA group became the largest forest owner in Romania, after acquiring 33,600 hectares of forest from Greengold, one of the companies used by the US university Harvard to carry out activities in the local market. Swedish group IKEA starts exploiting its forests in Romania editor@romania-insider.com