English

We about us

  • We willingly support you with your expansion to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
  • We have been active in the Baltic States since Gorbatschov’s Perestroijka, which means we have known the Baltic markets for about 15 years.
  • We make a simultaneous access to all three markets possible for you.
  • We possess a wide ramified network of cooperation partners in all three Baltic states.
  • We non-bindingly recommend you professional tax accountants, legal advisers as well as translators / interpreters.

 

Service offering

Does your enterprise intend to enter the markets of Estonia, Latvia, or Lithuania sooner or later?

We willingly support you professionally and satisfactorily with your expansion to the booming EU – growth market.

We have meanwhile more than 16 years of intensive knowledge in the market, language and – country of the Baltic States, and moreover we have long–time experience in the field of renting and commercialization of German real estates for retail trade.

Benefit from our advantages and synergies

  • We have been active in the Baltic States since 1989
  • Our founder of the company Michael Harter is fluent in English and Estonian
  • We facilitate you the simultaneous access to all three Baltic markets
  • We go individually into your needs and offer you custom-made solutions
  • We willingly make noncommittal contact to German – speaking tax accountants, legal advisers and translators / interpreters here or locally

Are you ...

  • Estate investor
  • Retailer
  • Franchise giver
  • Producer
  • Wholesaler

Then please take notice of our offer to you in the navigation on the right hand side
We are looking forward to your approach.

 

Our offering to you as

Real Estate investor
As estate investor willingly support and consult you about the buying of large-volume trade properties e.g. shopping - centres, office buildings, hotels, logistic centres etc.

Please send us your arrangement criteria or your search profile:

Fax–form as PDF

Retailer
As retailer we support you with your expansion to the Baltic States and help you with the search for suitable locations in shopping – centres, pedestrian areas, Old Town locations etc.

  • We cooperate with shopping – centre carriers, real estate owners, project developers, building enterprises etc. in all three states
  • In that way we can offer you amongst others locations free of commission
  • If you are interested we are also at your disposal as local "location – hunter" and exclusive partner for your expansion to the Baltic States
  • If required we are also at your disposal in regard to the acquisition of local business partners and qualified employees

We are looking forward to cooperating with you.
To be able to go into the individual expansion and strategy planning of your enterprise we beg you to fill in the enclosed form and fax it to us without any commitment.
We promise you, your effort amounts to less than three minutes. Your information will be treated confidentially and are not circulated to a third party.

Franchise giver
As Franchise giver we support you with the help of our local partners in the search for adequate franchise partners and qualified employees. We are looking forward to your sending of the search profile.

  • We cooperate with shopping centre carriers, property owners, project developers, building enterprises etc. in all three Baltic states
  • In that way we can offer you amongst others locations free of commission
  • If you are interested we are also at your disposal as local "location – chaser" and exclusive partner for your expansion to the Baltic States
  • If required we are also at your disposal in regard to the acquisition of local business partners and qualified employees

We are looking forward to cooperating with you.
To be able to go into the individual expansion and strategy planning of your enterprise we beg you to fill in the enclosed form and fax it to us without any commitment.
We promise you, your effort amounts to less than three minutes. Your information will be treated confidentially and are not circulated to a third party.

Fax–form as PDF

Producer
We support producers with our market expertise and miscellaneous contacts in the search for adequate production partners, buyer or supplier. We are looking forward to your non – committal approach and the sending of your search / supply profile.

Wholesaler
As wholesaler we promote you in the search for reliable producers and adequate reseller / buyer.
We are looking forward to your non – committal approach and the sending of your search / supply profile.

 

The founder


The founder and holder
Michael Harter

  • Long – time commercial project management at leading Berlin estate investors in the field of developing large – volume trade properties (Shopping – centres, power – store – centres, office, hotel, special property, etc.)
  • Several years of work experience in the sectors of property marketing and sale/ renting of commercial properties / - projects
  • Apprenticeship as banker
  • Degree dissertation on the evolution of shopping centres in Toronto and the change of the business practices in the Canadian retail sector
  • Thesis about the regional economic development in Estonia ( in abridged version published with professor Reiner Jaakson in "Communist Economies & Economic Transformation"
  • Final degree graduate in civil engineering (urban and – regional planning) at the Technical University of Berlin
  • Final degree M.A. (Economic Geography) at the University of Toronto
  • Final degree real estate economist at the European Business School, Berlin
  • Business fluent in Estonian and English
  • Regular stays in all three Baltic States since 1989
  • Brilliant knowledge of country and location in the Baltic States
  • Management board member of the German – Estonian association Berlin
  • Member in the society of alumni and promoter of the post – graduate study courses for estate economy at the European Business School e.V. (immoebs)

 

Tradition of the Hanseatic League

Harter Hanse Consult regards itself in the tradition of the Hanseatic League which was an association of predominantly German traders in the Northern European countries, active between the 12th and 17th century.

In the course of time this association developed under the guidance of Lübeck into the city alliance of the Hanseatic League, to which belonged more than 70 cities to and more than 130 were associated in the meantime.

The main sphere of influence of this early network was situated in the area of the Baltic Sea.

There the Baltic States, dominated by German fraternities, were an essential part of the Hanseatic League. Well.known cities as Riga (capital of Latvia), Windau (Latvian: Ventspils), Reval (Estonian: Tallinn, capital of Estonia); Dorpat (Estonian: Tartu) or Pernau (Estonian: Pernu) attest to this tradition. The Lithuanian cities Wilna (Lithuanian: Vilnius; today’s capital of Lithuania) and Kaunas were seats of a trading court and consequently also associated with the Hanseatic League.

Harter Hanse Consult ties on to this tradition of economical interconnection of the area of the Baltic Sea through its activity and its diverse business connections to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Company name and company logo take up this context too.

 

The Baltic States

Economic key data

  • The Baltic states contain in the narrow Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which were already independent from 1918 to 1940 and regained their independence in 1991.
  • The capitals are Tallinn (also known as Reval), Riga and Vilnius (also known as Wilna)
  • The three "Baltic tigers" have been members of the European Union since 1st May 2004
  • Compared to the EU the three states possess a smaller gross domestic product per capita, however measured with the above–average growth rate of the GDP of the last few years they belong to the strongest growing national economies
  • In 2005 the GDP – growth rates were about 9,8 % in Estonia, about 7,5% in Latvia and about 10,2 % in Lithuania
  • Engine of this growth is particularly the domestic demand
  • Disadvantage of this development are high trade deficits
  • They are however unproblematic as long as international investments are made in the Baltic States and at the present this is the case to a high degree
  • The economic success of the Baltic States is mainly caused by free competition, a liberal economic policy and a constant fiscal policy
  • The economic reorganization in the 1990’s had the omen of privatization of formerly state-owned enterprises and the isolation of the Russian market
  • Today the following countries are the main trading partners: The Scandinavian countries, Germany, Great Britain, Russia as well as the Baltic States among each other
  • The EU – membership promotes the influx of international direct investments as well as the chance of becoming member of the EURO-combine earlier than many other EU – joining states
  • The Baltic States aim at a preferably contemporary adoption of the Euro, which should possibly be executed in 2008
  • Estonia and Lithuania have already joined the European exchange-rate mechanism (ERM) on 27th June, 2004 and committed themselves to stick to tight fluctuation margins of the defined exchange rate of the Euro

Estonia
Estonia is the northernmost of the three Baltic republics.
1520 mostly smaller islands also belong to the national territory . The biggest island: Saaremaa is located to the west of the mainland. The other Baltic states haven’t got any islands.
Eye-catching is the close afforestation - ca. 44% of the 45.225km² comprehending national territory is covered by forest.

As biggest ethnic group among the 1,4 million inhabitants the Estonians with a proportion of 70% and the Russians with a proportion of 25% to the total population have to be mentioned. The most widespread persuasions are the Protestant–Lutheran and the Russian–Orthodox , whereas the latter occurs mainly within the Russian minority.

Besides the capital Tallinn with 40.000 inhabitants Tartu is to be named as other big city with 10.000 inhabitants. In Tartu the only public university of the whole country is located, which was found in 1632 by the Swedish King Gustav II. Adolf.

The Estonian language belongs in contrary to the Baltic languages Latvian and Lithuanian to the Finnish – Hungarian clan, which means that it is related to Finnish and Hungarian.

After obtaining independence Estonia restructured its administration radically towards preferably few hierarchies and a high transparency of the administrative bodies. This structure reform coupled with the innovative fiscal system contributes crucially to the economic prospering of the country. For the year 2006 a GDP growth of 8,2% is expected.

The state also emphasizes modern communication technologies . So there is a legal guaranteed access to the internet which is implemented through public access locations for free. With its geographical closeness to Scandinavia; only 85 km sea route lie between Tallinn and Helsinki; Estonia has a close contact to these states. This amongst others becomes apparent in the direct investments of 5,85 billion € from Sweden and the 2,04 billion € direct investments from Finland which were transacted until the end of the year 2005.

Latvia
The 64.589km² large country is orientated towards its capital Riga, in which 730.000 of the 2,3 Million Latvians are living. Daugavpils, which is located in the south–east , near the border of Belarus, where 110.000 people are living, is to be mentioned as second largest city ,.
Latvia is divided into 4 parts, the so-called landscape areas.
They are called Kurland, Livland, Lettgallen and Semgallen whereas those names originate from the once dominating clans.

Latvia’s population is divided into 57% Latvians and 40% Russians, whereas the first-mentioned predominantly represent the Protestant–Lutheran and last-mentioned Russian–Orthodox persuasion.

In the same way as the other Baltic States Latvia also passes through a phase of economic growth at the present which, in 2005, had the biggest GNP growth – rate in the EU with 10,2%. Correspondingly the new indebtedness laid by only 1,0% of the GNP in 2005.

Biggest foreign direct investor is Germany with a part of 15% of all foreign direct investments.

Lithuania
Lithuania is the southernmost of the three Baltic republics. A prominent landscape feature is the coast area which is affected by the miles of long sandy beaches and the dunes; around seaport Klaipeda (former Memel).
The Courland Spit whose northernmost part is located at Lithuanian territory should also be mentioned in this context. Wilhelm von Humboldt said once about it: " The Courland Spit is so strange that one has to see it actually just as well as Spain or Italy if you should not miss a wonderful image in your soul."

In surface area ( 65.301 km²) and population figure (3,4 Million) Lithuania outnumbers the other two states.
Different from Estonia and Latvia Lithuania’s population concentrates to a less extent on the capital. Besides Vilnius with 540.000 inhabitants, Kaunas with 370.000 and Klaipeda with 190.000 inhabitants are other well-known centres.
Moreover Lithuania holds with 9 % Russian population as biggest minority the most homogenous ethnical structure. Also Lithuania is the only Baltic state which is predominantly Catholic affected.

Since overcoming the Russian crisis in 1998/99 and increasing orientation towards the West Lithuania’s economy is booming and the increase of the GNP (real) laid annually by more than 6% ; at last (2005) by 7,5 % . The national debt was in 2005 only 17,5% of the GNP. At the external trade, which includes imports and exports a duplication to now 21,9 billion € since 1995 can be observed..