BOFIT Weekly Review 2015/29
Several hundred firms in Finnish ownership in Russia
The latest figures from Statistics Finland show 380 subsidiaries of Finnish firms operating in Russia in 2013. The net sales of Finnish subsidiaries operating in Russia at that time amounted to €11.3 billion and provided employment for over 46,000 people. Finland’s exports of goods and services to Russia amounted to €7.5 billion in 2013.
Rosstat reports there were 460 Finnish-owned firms in Russia in 2013. Rosstat figures also include firms, where Finns hold a minority stake. Some 60 % of Finnish-owned firms are sited in Northwest Russia, mostly in St. Petersburg, in the Leningrad region or in the Karelian Republic. About a quarter are based in and around Moscow.
Finnish-owned firms accounted for about 2 % of foreign firms operating in Russia. A substantial portion of foreign firms in Russia are, however, Cypriot-owned, and it is estimated that the ultimate owners in most of such cases are in fact Russian. The region where Finns accounted for the largest share of foreign-owned firms is the Karelian Republic. Well over a third of foreign firms there have Finnish owners.
Number and combined net sales (EUR billion) of Finnish-owned subsidiaries in Russia
Source: Statistics Finland