Almost 57,000 Slovak firms owned by foreigners

The number of companies that pass from our hands into foreign ownership is constantly increasing; since the beginning of this year, approximately 3,000 entrepreneurs have sold domestic entities to foreign owners, meaning that 56,773 Slovak companies are now in the hands of owners from other countries, according to an analysis by consulting company Dun & Bradstreet. Most Slovak companies are owned by people from neighbouring countries. These are entrepreneurs from the Czech Republic, Hungary and Austria, who control half of the total number of entities with foreign owners in the background. "Entrepreneurs from the Czech Republic are still in the lead. They currently own 13,831 entities on the Slovak market. However, the paradox is that the number of entities is increasing - since the beginning of the year they have acquired approximately 1,300 companies, the amount of capital is decreasing. Of the €2.8 billion that the Czechs controlled in our companies last year, it is €2.5 billion today," pointed out Dun & Bradstreet analyst Petra Stepanova. The situation is the same with businesses owned by Hungarians. Since the beginning of the year, the number of entrepreneurs in our firms has increased by approximately 300, but the capital has decreased by more than €2 million to €985 million during this year. The number of owners from Austria increased by approximately 600 year-on-year. The Austrians are followed by the Ukrainians with 2,387 companies, Germans (2,371), Poles (2,177), Italians (2,123 companies), and Romanians (1,546 companies). (TASR)