The Competition Council of Latvia has officially initiated an in-depth investigation into SIA Hipocredit Group’s proposed acquisition of AS Hipocredit. The decision to launch an additional, comprehensive review follows a preliminary evaluation of the merger notification originally submitted on June 1, 2026.
SIA Hipocredit Group operates primarily as a holding entity backed by a diverse corporate network with substantial interest in the Baltic financial sector. Its portfolio companies include SIA MyCredit, a licensed non-bank consumer lender specializing in real estate collateralized loans, and SIA Silva Finance, which focuses on issuing loans backed by forest and agricultural land. Additionally, the group controls SIA DOAFF and Kredora SIA, which operate in vertically related fields providing digital marketing, credit intermediation, and financial comparison platform services. The target company, AS Hipocredit, is an established Latvian non-bank lender that provides varied credit solutions to both private individuals and corporate entities.
Following an initial market analysis, the Competition Council determined that the transaction would heavily intersect with multiple horizontal and vertical markets. On a horizontal level, the merger directly impacts the consumer lending market and the corporate lending landscape within Latvia. Vertically, the regulator noted implications for the loan comparison and credit intermediation platform market in Latvia, as well as the digital marketing sector for financial services on a broader global and European Economic Area scale.
Given the concentration of overlapping services, the competition watchdog decided that a standard preliminary review would be insufficient to gauge the transaction’s true economic impact. The regulator expressed specific concern over potential anti-competitive effects within the narrowest segment of the overlapping operations: the mortgage lending market for legal entities in the territory of Latvia.
Invoking Article 16 of the Competition Law, the Competition Council will use the extended Phase 2 investigation to thoroughly evaluate whether the consolidation risks weakening market competition, raising barriers to entry, or limiting options for corporate and retail borrowers. The deep dive underscores the regulator’s heightened scrutiny of non-bank financial institutions and specialized lending platforms operating within the domestic credit market.
