Inward Statistics on Foreign Affiliates, Slovenia, 2016

Foreign inward affiliates generated around a quarter of value added of all resident enterprises

In 2016, 8,053 or 5.8% of enterprises operating in Slovenia in non-financial activities (NACE sections B to J, L to N and S95) were foreign affiliates. Active foreign affiliates employed 25.5% of all employees in 2016 and generated 27.3% of valued added in all enterprises in covered activities in Slovenia.

Larger Slovene companies continued to be sold in 2016

In 2016, active foreign affiliates operating in Slovenia further gained importance compared to all observed enterprises in Slovenia. These structural changes in employment and business performance results between national enterprises and foreign affiliates was significantly influenced by the sales or takeovers of the companies of some larger Slovene enterprise groups, such as Perutnina Ptuj, Paloma, Eti Elektroelement, Kovinoplastika Lož, and some other enterprises.

German and Austrian foreign affiliates generated a third of value added and investment of all foreign affiliates

Among foreign affiliates the most numerous are the affiliates of Serbia, Italy, the Russian Federation, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria and Croatia. Economically most important foreign affiliates are those controlled by institutional units of the following eight countries: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the United States, Croatia, France, Italy and the Russian Federation. The foreign affiliates of these countries, the total share of which is around half of all foreign affiliates, in 2016 generated three quarters of value added and a little less than 80% of total investment of all foreign affiliates.

German and Austrian foreign affiliates alone generated a third of value added and investment of all foreign affiliates or a half of their value generated by foreign affiliates controlled by the EU Member States.  

Swiss, Russian and United States foreign affiliates generated in total around a quarter of value added and investment of all foreign affiliates or three quarters of their value generated by foreign affiliates controlled by the countries outside the European Union. 

Similar relationships as for value added could be observed for employment and other business performance results.

The owners of foreign affiliates frequently operate through daughter companies of other countries

As far as the data sources allow, we follow the origin and business performance of the foreign affiliates by the principle of  the ultimate controlling country, which means by the resident country of the institutional unit (legal entity or natural person), ultimate owner, which is at the top of the decision-making on business strategy of the enterprise chain. Another principle of following the origin of the foreign affiliates is the principle of (first) foreign owner or investor. 

Ad-hoc comparison of the foreign affiliates’ countries by the principle of the controlling country shows that especially Germany and non-European countries (Russian Federation, United States, Japan) are more important than when presented by the country of the first owner/investor. Because the foreign affiliates of the mentioned countries often operate through their daughter companies, located for example in Cyprus, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Austria, the mentioned countries presented by the controlling country are less important than presented by the first owner/investor. 

The differences in the importance of the countries of foreign affiliates are more visible if employment and business performance results are compared by both principles; they are less visible in the case of a comparison of the number of foreign affiliates ((additional data are in attachment).