Swedish media group Bonnier has sold is newspapers in Latvia due to the financial crisis in the country.

Bonnier, a privately-held Swedish media group of 150 companies operating in 21 countries, is throwing in the towel in crisis-hit Latvia as the country’s economy is heading for further decline.

Bonniers has sold its Latvian companies AS Diena and Dienas Bizness (subsidiary of Swedish business daily Dagens Industri). The new owner is the Latvian company Nedela, run by Dienas Bizness' former CEO Aleksandrs Tralmaks.

The withdrawal from the Latvian market is also a move to raise capital to boost investments in Russia, Estonia and Lithuania, Bonnier said without reveling the value of the deal.

Despite the gloomy Baltic economic situation, Bonnier has faith in a strong development for its newspapers on Estonia and Lithuania.

“We believe that we can create something even larger there when the crisis has passed”, said Casten Almqvist, head of Bonnier Business Press, to Bonnier-owned Dagens Industri.

Last spring Bonnier sold its businesses in Croatia.