Members

Aviva is the world's seventh-largest insurance group and the biggest in the UK. It is one of the leading providers of life and pensions products to Europe and has substantial businesses elsewhere around the world. Its main activities and long-term savings, fund management and general insurance. It has premium income and investment sales from continuing operations of £28 billion, and more than £200 billion of assets under management. The group has 59,000 employees and 25 million customers worldwide. 

Scandinavia's largest city
Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark and the largest city in Scandinavia. It is considered to be the gateway to the Baltic Region. It's geographical location together with the huge investments in it's infrastructure, a highly developed industry and a well-trained labour force, makes Copenhagen the ideal location for high tech companies and regional headquarters. Moreover, it is worth noticing that Copenhagen accounts for 40% of Denmark's economy.

Key facts:

• Population (2002): 1.80 million
  

• GDP (2001): 540.551 mio. DKK (Denmark: 132.4498 mio. DKK)

• Key industries: Biotechnology, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, IT, telecommunications, service and tourism

• 8 universities and places of higher education

Hamburg has grown beyond its role as Germany’s gateway to the world; today it forms the world’s gateway to mainland Europe, and above all to Central and Southeastern Europe, Scandinavia, and the Baltic region. Conversely, Hamburg is now a unique logistics crossroads serving two seas: the North Sea, and, via Lübeck, the Baltic. The city is easy to reach by train, plane, car and ferry. Hamburg’s significance as an international center for trade, commerce and business is best expressed in one of the many records it holds: nowhere in the world is there a city with as many consulates as Hamburg. Currently some 97 nations are represented here. Hamburg is a haven for high-tech industries and young companies. Its high-flying aviation sector boasts global players, with medicine and biotechnology fast forming a new, future-oriented focus. The Free and Hanseatic City remains the market leader in the print media: 50% of all German newspapers and magazines hail from its publishing houses. Germany’s top news programs are produced here. The new HafenCity port project brings new life to the riverfront of the Elbe River. A broad range of cultural highlights and recreational facilities in the city caters to residents and visitors alike. The city’s throbbing nightlife draws people out from homes and hotels at all hours. It’s this wonderful mix of business and atmosphere that makes Hamburg one of the most likable and exciting cities in the world. 

Helsinki is the capital of Finland. The Helsinki metropolitan area, with a population of about one million people, generates one third of the GDP of the country and is one of the most rapidly growing urban regions in Europe. Helsinki has been repeatedly placed at the spearhead of business criteria surveys. According to the latest indicators of the EU, the Helsinki metropolitan area ranks among Europe’s top ten urban regions in terms of innovation creation. It is a centre for expertise of a very high standard, with its universities and research institutes providing cutting edge competence on an international scale.
 
There are six industrial clusters in the Helsinki metropolitan area with especially interesting areas of know-how: telecommunications and information technology, environmental technology and biotechnologies, food and processing technologies, the manufacture of electrical equipment and automation, and logistics. Helsinki is ideally placed to serve especially the Russian and Baltic markets.

Malmö is the commercial centre of southern Sweden and an international city. This is expressed, not least, by the fact that Malmö has 271.271 residents who speak some 100 languages and belong to 164 different nationalities.

Heavy investments in new technology and training programmes of high calibre have made Malmö a city of knowledge. Malmö University, which opened in 1998, is Sweden's latest venture in the field of higher education, accommodating some 15.000 students.

The strongest sectors in Malmö are logistics, retail and wholesale trade, construction, and property. There are also a number of well-known companies within biotechnology and medical technology, environmental technology, IT, and digital media fields. Co-operation between colleges, science parks, and companies provides a sound basis for entrepreneurs and creative development in Malmö.

An exceptionally well developed infrastructure makes Malmö very easy to reach, whatever means of transport you use to get here: boat, plane, train or car. Malmö has an international harbour and the airports Kastrup and Sturup are only half an hour's journey from the centre of Malmö. The motorway reaches right into the city centre and Malmö has excellent rail connections with the rest of Sweden and Europe.

The City of Malmö is enhancing an attractive business environment and a dynamic business community in Malmö. 

Stockholm is one of the most beautiful capitals in the world. That´s no news. What´s new is that the region has evolved into one of Europe´s most dynamic hubs for business, creativity and innovation, transforming itself from a big small town into a small Big City - a region that has most of the advantages but few of the disadvantages of a major international metropolis.

The Stockholm region is widely acknowledged as an exceptionally quick, receptive and sophisticated market, frequently utilized by major global brands and corporations as a test market for a wide variety of new technologies, products and services. The region´s business and industry is characterized by high-tech, innovation and creativity, operating in close collaboration with the many prominent universities and science institutes. The main fields of business development and science can be divided into four "clusters": IT & Telecom, Life Science, Environ Tech, and Banking & Finance. In all these fields, the Stockholm region claims a leading position in Northern Europe. 

Copenhagen Airports A/S is the listed company that owns and operates the airports at Kastrup and Roskilde. We are 1350 committed employees entrusted with everything from planning the airports’ future and the services they offer to the daily cleaning and maintenance of the airport.

Copenhagen Airports makes its infrastructure, buildings and service facilities available to the many companies that have business operations at the airport.We share a common goal: to ensure that our passengers have a pleasant stay at the airport. 

The County Administrative Board is a government body responsible foroverseeing that the national goals, laid down by the Swedish parliament andgovernment, are realized in the County of Stockholm. Our work compriseseverything from care of the elderly, equal opportunities, integration toemergency services, cultural heritage and protection of the environmen

• We supervisethe observance of laws and regulations.
• We try appeals against local governmentdecisions.
• We decide about licenses and economic support in many fields.
• We provide information andadvice.

The County Administrative Board co-ordinates various interests in orderto promote the development of the Stockholm region. Our goals are growth, a goodenvironment, quality of life and equal opportunities for all.

The wide scope of our responsibilities demands competence and experience fromall fields of society. Among our 400 employees are lawyers, architects,agronomists, biologists, engineers, archeologists, veterinarians, sociologists,and economists to mention but a few. 

Dalgasgroup’s primary activities concern investment, innovation and business development within the areas of nature, experiences of nature and the environment.

The mission for Dalgasgroup is to make a significant contribution to the sustainable development of the environment and natural resources in Denmark and the rest of the world. We aim to promote development that also assures future generations of a good life.

Dalgasgroup is 100 per cent owned by DDH (Hedeselskabet), which is an association that has the status of a business foundation. DDH has an equity capital of more than half a billion Danish kroner. We have an annual turnover of DKK 1.4 billion and can count more than 1,100 committed employees among our assets.

Dalgasgroup discharges its mission within the areas of nature and the environment through activities such as its ownership of the subsidiaries HedeDanmark and Orbicon. We have similar aims through our interests in Xergi, Silvatec and the Polish landfill gas plants. We also administer a considerable portfolio of forest properties.

With total assets of 390 bEUR, more than 890 branches and a staff of approx 23,000, Danske Bank is the largest bank in Denmark and a leading player in the Nordic financial markets.The Danske Bank Group offers a comprehensive range of financial services, including insurance (Danica Pension), mortgage finance (Realkredit Danmark), asset management, brokerage, real estate and leasing services. In the Nordic region the bank is well positioned by Östgöta Enskilda Banken in Sweden, Fokus Bank in Norway and Sampo Bank in Finland. Outside the Nordic region, the bank is positioned by Northern Bank in Northern Ireland, National Irish Bank in the Republic of Ireland, Sampo Pank in Estonia, Sampo Banka in Latvia and Sampo Bankas in Lithuania.

DFDS - " Det Forenede Dampskibs- Selskab" (The United Steamship Company) -  is the oldest, large shipping company in Denmark, founded in 1866. Today DFDS is a leading North European liner shipping company, listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange.

Freight activities are operated in DFDS Tor Line. The main customer groups consist of international transport and shipping companies and manufacturers of large quantities of industrial goods whose logistics include a significant element of transport by sea.

Passenger activities are operated by DFDS Seaways. The main customer groups consist of holidaymakers travelling by car, Mini Cruise passengers, group travel and transport and conference passengers.  Besides Denmark, DFDS is present in the following European countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Ireland, UK, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and Poland.

Dansk Landbrugs Grovvareselskab (DLG) is Denmark ’s largest feedingstuff company and has today approx. 25,000 Danish farmers as members.

DLG supplies Danish farmers with feed, cereal seed, fertilizers, agricultural lime, crop protection and much more for the day-to-day operation. The products are sold via DLG’s stores. DLG currently has 22 main stores with 140 departments across the country.

Production and sale of feed compounds are some of the most important activities in the DLG Group.

The DLG Group has its own feed factories with an annual production of around DKK 2 million tonnes of feed compounds for pigs, cattle, poultry, horses and sheep.

The DLG Group is also one of Denmark’ s largest exporters of brewing barley, cereal seed, feed and bread cereal, rape seed and feed peas and is via the Group’s affiliated companies involved in, among other things, the further manufacturing of natural crop. The DLG Group has a market share on the Danish feedingstuffs market of 46 per cent. 

Bank DnB NORD is a joint venture between Norwegian DnB NOR and German NORD/LB Norddeutsche Landesbank, which started operations in January 2006. The bank with subsidiaries and branches in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland profits from the two parent banks' expertise and strengths as well as their well-established infrastructure throughout the Baltic Sea region. With over 1,800 employees, more than 130 offices, in excess of 650,000 customers and assets totalling EUR 4.1 billion, DnB NORD is a significant player in North-Eastern Europe. The head quarters of DnB NORD is situated in Copenhagen. 

Founded in 1997, East Capital is a leading independent asset manager specialising in Eastern European financial markets, with around EUR 4.5bn  in assets under management, both in public and private equity. The company was formed in 1997 by a group of professionals with extensive experience from both the financial markets and the corporate world in Russia and the Baltic States. The team now numbers 200 and works in close cooperation with internationally renowned experts on the region.

East Capital's headquarter is located in Stockholm and has regional offices in Paris, Tallinn, Moscow, Oslo, Hong Kong, Milan and Vienna. With highly qualified specialists from East and West with a genuine interest in the development of the region, it provides capital and know-how to Eastern European companies while offering lucrative investment opportunities to companies, institutions and private investors.

East Capital is a dedicated organisation, with combined experience in portfolio management, corporate finance, equity trading and research. Our investment strategy is based on a thorough knowledge of the markets, fundamental analysis and frequent company visits by our investment teams. Our 100% focus has paid off very well and will remain the key to our success and the key to the high return we pledge to provide to our clients - over 450,000 direct and indirect private investors throughout the world, as well as several leading institutions.

The task of the European Investment Bank, the European Union's financing institution, is to contribute towards the integration, balanced development and economic and social cohesion of the Member Countries. In the period 2000-2004 close to EUR 200 billion have been provided by the European Investment Bank (EIB) for investment, particularly in poorer regions of Europe and in the new EU Member States. This finance has supported projects ranging from research, development and innovation to roads, bridges, urban light railways, large and small-scale industries, waste treatment, water supplies, renewable energy schemes, housing and hospitals.

Of the total, some EUR 20 billion has also supported the EU’s external aid in the Mediterranean region, the African, Caribbean and Pacific areas, South Africa, South-East Europe, Russia, Latin America and Asia.

With its continuous development of trend-setting pumps and pump systems, Grundfos is one of the world’s leading pump manufacturers.

Grundfos has sales companies in 40 countries all around the world and supplies pumps for a wide variety of purposes such as building services, industry, dosing, water supply, and wastewater along with motors and electronics.

We offer a total approach that gives the optimal, most cost-effective system over the complete life cycle. We see the pump as a part of a complex hydraulic system - not just focusing on the pump alone but optimising the whole system.

Well-defined and deeply rooted company values are the core of everything that Grundfos does. Expressed in their shortest form they amount to: Being responsible - Thinking ahead - Innovation 

Traditionally very closely involved in foreign trade affairs, the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce regards as one of its important duties to promote business relations with foreign countries. Acting in Hamburg, Germany’s first international trading place and main hub of trade to and from Northern Europe and the Baltic, the Chamber’s International Department give advice to its member companies on international trade and on business contacts with companies all over the world. The Hamburg Chamber of Commerce has its ownrepresentative offices in St. Peterburg, Kaliningrad, Brussels and Berlin. It has a world wide acknowledged reputation as a tenacious lobbyist for free world trade and for free- market principles. 

HedeDanmark a/s is an international service and trading enterprise in the green area. We are leading in services for the forest, open land, gardens, parks and open spaces in towns and cities and had a turnover in excess of DKK 1 billion in 2006. With more than 1,100 employees at over 60 locations, we are working nation-wide in Denmark from our local bases.

HedeDanmark is owned by the association Det danske Hedeselskab – DDH, which is working to further the development of natural values and natural resources in Denmark and internationally.

At HedeDanmark, our focus is to develop the competencies of our employees through professional and personal growth in individual training and course processes. We thus attempt to be at the cutting edge of developments in the green area and to develop new and improved solutions to the benefit of our customers and other partners.

HedeDanmark is represented by legal entities in five countries but also has sales representations in four other countries and is doing business with 47 countries throughout the world.

HSH NORDBANK Copenhagen Branch:

A leading provider of comprehensive financial services in the Nordic Area & Baltic States.

HSH NORDBANK Copenhagen Branch offers a wide range of products to our clients and business relations. Our principal task is to be at the leading edge of developments on the financial markets and thereby provide the best possible advisory services to the benifit for our customers.

HSH NORDBANK Copenhagen Branch is the centre of the Nordic Area and the Baltic States, that consist of Stockholm Branch, Helsinki Branch, Oslo Representative Office, Riga Representative Office and Tallin Representative Office.

This is how our customers can expect us to be:

• clear and focused
• specialised
• team based
• competitive
• In active dialogue
• tailor-made

Being the German bank in the North we are building on relationship banking, and many of our customers have a long lasting relationship with us.

Facts:

• HSH NORDBANK Copenhagen Branch was established in 1996
• Close to 300 staff members are employed in the Nordic Area.
• HSH NORDBANK Copenhagen Branch are focused on wholesale banking to large corporate and institutional clients and provides a number of speciel banking products.
• HSH NORDBANK Copenhagen Branch provide nordic clients with a "gateway" to a worldwide network of branches
• Measured in total assets HSH NORDBANK Copenhagen Branch is among the 5 largest banks in Denmark.  

The state owned joint stock Company "Latvenergo" is dealing with electrical power and heat power production, electrical energy transmission and distribution. "Latvenergo" is the largest company in the Republic of Latvia with last year's turnover of 327 million euro and 45 million euro profit. The company's main principles of economic activities are satisfying the demands of its 1,1 million clients, increase of environmentally friendly energy production and improvement of the existing technological systems and facilities in conformity with the environmental protection requirements. The board of "Latvenergo" led by President Mr Karlis Mikelsons has started implementation of a long-term investment programme, in the framework of which the electrical power production and transmission infrastructure inherited from the Soviet period will be reconstructed and renewed. Due to Latvia's integration process into the European economy, "Latvenergo" is performing the necessary organisational activities, carrying out structural changes as well as reorganisation, separating electrical power production, transmission and distribution to meet the European Union standards and open market conditions. 

Linklaters is a law firm which specialises in advising the world's leading organisations on their most challenging transactions and assignments. With our offices in major business and financial centres, we deliver an outstanding service to our clients anywhere in the world. A collaborative approach is central to everything we do. However complex, urgent or challenging a transaction may be, we are motivated to help our clients succeed. We have aligned ourselves around three global core areas - Corporate, Finance and Commercial. Within these areas all the relevant experts are on hand to provide their technical insight, working with each other and across borders. Through these three global practice areas we ensure dedicated expert advice in every jurisdiction.

Maersk Sealand is a division of the A.P. Moller - Maersk Group. The head office for the Nordic and the Baltic countries is in Gothenburg. For further information, please refer to: 

Nordea is the leading financial services group in the Nordic and Baltic Sea region and operates through three business areas: Retail Banking, Corporate and Institutional Banking and Asset Management & Life. The Nordea Group has more than 10 million customers and 1 245 bank branches in 22 countries. Nordea is a world leader in Internet banking with 3.1 million e-customers. The Nordea shares are listed in Stockholm, Helsinki and Copenhagen. 

The Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) is a multilateral financial institution owned by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden. NIB offers long-term loans and guarantees, on competitive market terms, for private and public projects both in and outside the Bank’s member countries.

NIB operates in about 40 countries. NIB has a significant environmental loan portfolio outside the member countries, including the Baltic Sea and Barents regions. Environmental investments in the private sector include energy efficiency and measures for cleaner production in different industries.

NIB acquires the funds to finance its lending by borrowing on the international capital markets. NIB enjoy the highest possible credit rating, AAA/Aaa, with the leading rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s.

Since 1992 the three provinces of the Northern Netherlands (Fryslân, Groningen, Drenthe) have combined their administrative resources in the Northern Netherlands Provinces (in Dutch: Samenwerkingsverband Noord-Nederland abbreviated to SNN). The core task is to strengthen the economic structure of the Northern Netherlands within both a national and an international framework.

Within the international framework, the Northern Netherlands Provinces has earmarked Northeast Europe as prime region for cooperation and partnership. This approach is called the Northeast Corridor, a Trans-European corridor linking the metropolitan Nordic and Baltic regions between Saint Petersburg and the Randstad region.

OMX is a leading expert in the exchange industry. Through the Nordic Exchange in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius, OMX offers access to approximately 80 percent of the Nordic and Baltic securities market. Our integrated technology solutions span the transaction chain enabling efficient securities transactions for exchanges, clearing organizations, central securities depositories and other financial institutions around the world. OMX is listed on the Nordic Exchange in Stockholm, Helsinki and Copenhagen. For more information, please visit 

Orbicon A/S is one of the leading Danish environmental consulting companies which provides services in the fields of the natural and water resources, water supply, wastewater and sewage treatment systems, soil and groundwater pollution, the working environment, rural development and land management, and the marine environment.

Orbicon is strongly focused on strengthening its position both in Denmark and abroad on new emerging markets by establishing strategic partnerships and business platforms wherever our services are requested. Our customers on the international scene are both public agencies and authorities, as well as donors, developments banks and private companies.

Our solutions are based on a broad range of competencies amongst our employees ensuring that Orbicon is in an ideal position to deal with the increasingly complex issues that characterise the environmental market both in Denmark and abroad

The Port of Copenhagen Ltd. is one of the two parent companies of the most active port in the Øresund Region: Copenhagen Malmö Port – CMP. This newly established port provides easy access to the markets in Sweden and Denmark, offers all modern port facilities and operates 24 hours a day. The Port of Copenhagen Ltd. is also a major property owner in the Copenhagen area and develops dockland sites no longer required for port purposes. The Port creates unique housing and The Port of Copenhagen Ltd. is one of the two parent companies of the most active port in the Øresund Region: Copenhagen Malmö Port – CMP. This newly established port provides easy access to the markets in Sweden and Denmark, offers all modern port facilities and operates 24 hours a day. The Port of Copenhagen Ltd. is also a major property owner in the Copenhagen area and develops dockland sites no longer required for port purposes. The Port creates unique housing and business opportunities by the waterfront in some of the most attractive areas of Copenhagen.

“Region Skåne” – development, promotion and co-operation in Skåne .

Skåne is the southernmost region of Sweden. “Region Skåne” is a regional public body responsible for health, medical and dental services, and will also have responsibility for future issues.

You can find more information about these responsibilities on our website, in addition to the visions and goals of Region Skåne. 

SanomaWSOY is a leading media group in the Nordic region, with presence in 14 European countries. The Group has five divisions: Sanoma Magazines (magazine publishing and press distribution), Sanoma (newspaper publishing and printing), WSOY (publishing, printing and calendar operations), SWelcom (electronic media) and Rautakirja (kiosk operations, press distribution, bookstores, movie theatre operations and restaurant operations). The Group employs about 18,000 people and its net sales (2002) were some € 2.4 billion. 40% of the Group’s activities are outside Finland. 

In recent years, there have been fundamental changes in the region’s infrastructure – in particular the building of road/rail connections across Denmark’s Great belt and across the Øresund between Malmø and Copenhagen. In this new transport environment, Scandlines´ prime mission is to offer both private individuals and transport companies a competitive, efficient and enjoyable transportation of passengers and goods in our core area. In addition, we are developing our freight services to and from the Baltic countries and through the Baltic countries to Russia – regions that are fast becoming the world’s most interesting areas of economic growth.

In 2001, 20 million passengers travelled with Scandlines, along with 3.6 million cars and 877,000 lorries. The company also transported 118,000 railway carriages. A total of 156,000 crossings were made by Scandlines 24 ferries in 2001. 

SEB is a European financial group for primarily companies and financially active private individuals. SEB has a total of 630 branch offices in Sweden, Germany and the Baltic countries and a total of 4 million customers, including 900,000 Internet clients.

On 31 December 2000, the SEB Group had SEK 1,123 billion in total assets and SEK 910 billion in assets under management. The Group is represented in the Nordic and Baltic countries, Germany Great Britain, Luxembourg, Switzerland, in all over 20 countries around the world and has 21,500 employees.

During 1999, the overwhelming part of SEB's staff and customers were in Sweden, where also most of income was generated. Today, more than half of both employees and customers are outside Sweden and 57 per cent of gross income originated from non-Swedish markets compared with 27 per cent in 1999.

This expansion is primarily due to the acquisition of the German SEB Germany and the increased ownership of banks in the Baltic countries. These acquisitions form part of SEB's strategy to focus on savings and e-banking as well as on growth markets in Europe. 

Statoil is an integrated oil and gas company with 17.000 employees in 25 countries. The Statoil group is the leading operator on the Norwegian continental shelf with a growing international presence. In the Baltic Sea region, Statoil operates an extensive network of service stations in Scandinavia, The Baltic countries, Poland and Russia. The group's objective is to run its operations with zero harm to people or the environment and zero accident or losses. Total revenues in 2002 reached 30 billion €