Finland enjoyed a record-breaking year in the number of greenfield investments and acquisitions by foreign companies in 2017, with a total of 336 new international companies and acquisitions. Greater Helsinki attracted the most investments in Finland. 59 % of all the investment chose the capital area as their investment location.
The number of investments was almost 20% higher than in 2016 both to Finland and to Helsinki region. Neighbouring country Sweden was Finland’s most important investor country with 95 new companies, according to Business Finland’s Invest in Finland unit. Sweden also showed the biggest growth, with 15 more companies coming to Finland than in the previous year (80). Other major investor countries were Great Britain (55), United States (30), Denmark (25) and Norway (19). The number of new Chinese companies investing in Finland was 12, remaining at the same level as last year.
“Sweden is of course still the biggest source country, but what is interesting is that China has continued growing now several years. We have seen a big rise in the Chinese cases at Helsinki Business Hub. From our last year cases China was the biggest source country,” Marja-Liisa Niinikoski says.
Photo: Business Finland
The most foreign-owned companies were established in the business services, health & wellbeing, and ICT sectors, which was similar to 2016. The biggest relative growth was experienced by the retail sector, with 47 new foreign companies compared to 24 in the previous year.
There are about 4,600 international companies operating in Finland, employing almost 240,000 people. These companies benefit from Finland’s top-quality business environment and world-class innovation ecosystem, including a vibrant startup scene.
“Only 1 % of the companies in Finland are foreign owned. In this sense, we are behind our neighbouring countries and we have still a lot to do in Finland and in Greater Helsinki. The value of the foreign companies is very important. They employ 16 % of the workforce and produce 22 % of the value added. “, CEO of Helsinki Business Hub Marja-Liisa Niinikoski comments.
