Midland Credit Management (MCM), a subsidiary of U.S.-based Encore Capital Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: ECPG), inaugurated new offices in Costa Rica on Monday, May 13. The company will move its operations to the former Yaohan building near the Technological City of San José, Costa Rica. MCM arrived in Costa Rica in 2012 after an extensive site search across Latin America. The team began with 15 people ...

With over 230 international purchasers, Expotur 2019 will kick off on May 9 in the Costa Rica Convention Center. These delegates represent companies from 35 different countries, where they will be promoting Costa Rica as a destination. The increasing flow of tourists to Costa Rica as well as the convenient visa process and existing air connections are determining factors for the committee that ...

Thermo Fisher Scientific celebrated the opening of its new distribution center in Coyol Free Zone, Alajuela, Costa Rica. This is the company’s third expansion in the country in the past 7 years. The new 15,000 square feet building has increased height which expands capacity by 52%. The additional space will be used to stock laboratory supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for cleanro...

This Friday Costa Rica's Ministry of Labor and Social Security along with the company SYKES signed an addendum to an agreement that will train and hire hundreds of people in the upcoming months, thanks to the SYKES’ English Academy. From now on, SYKES will teach English to those who are willing to work but don’t have B2 or C1 English levels, which are required at the Services sector. The Emp...

The Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE - Coalición Costarricense de Iniciativas de Desarrollo) has received the highest award given for attracting the best investment project to Latin America, against the backdrop of AIM Dubai 2019, the Annual Investment Meeting held in Dubai. The investment project is the recently inaugurated IBM Cybersecurity Center, which has allowed for a threef...

IBM, at an official event featuring the participation of the Government of Costa Rica and the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE), announced the expansion of its Global Security Services Center, located at Heredia in the America Free Zone, from which it monitors security events for hundreds of clients in more than 130 countries. The expansion triples its operating capacity and will ...

New York-headquartered WeWork announces the opening of operations in Costa Rica and is expected to be operational by the end of 2019. The company, with over 101 locations globally, aims to transform the local business while leveraging Costa Rica as a gateway to the Central American region. Valued at over US$47 billion in 2018 and considered the second most valuable startup in USA, WeWork transf...

The digital technology company, Akamai, inaugurated this Monday, Match 18 its new facility in Costa Rica, located in Roble Corporate Center. Here, it will gather all its operations in the country as part of the expansion of its services, which are exported from Costa Rica to the rest of the world. Akamai, established in Costa Rica in 2012, now has 300 employees. It foresees to increase its payr...

The Costa Rican-North American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham), called on the Costa Rican Government to accept, immediately, the guidelines of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in matters of public contracting, which aim to guarantee open procedures for the competition, the no-discrimination, and the observance of adequate transparency norms, all these with the objectiv...

The Moín Megaport, APM Terminals, officially began operations this Thursday, February, 28, 2019 with the promise of putting Costa Rica at the head of the region in port services. The container terminal began operations partially back in October 30, 2018 working at a minimum capacity with the purpose of testing procedures and preparing personnel. The official inauguration of the megaport, which...

Neustar, Inc., provider of real-time information services, announced it will expand its business footprint and workforce in STEM-related computer and information services (IS) skills as it increases its employee base. Throughout 2019, the company intends to hire more than 50 professionals in technical and leadership positions in engineering-related functions and activities including database ...

Spanish company Telefónica (Movistar) is in the process of selling its operations in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama to the company Millicom International Cellular (Tigo) for a total 1,455 million euros (approx.$1,650 million USD). The information was confirmed by the Movistar Costa Rica headquarters, however, the transaction is still pending to be approved by each market’s regulations, the wh...

Roche inaugurated the Finance and Procurement areas of its Shared Service Center for the Americas today. From Costa Rica, the company will provide business operations support to the Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics divisions across the entire American Continent. The operation will generate approximately 400 direct and 50 indirect jobs by the end of 2020. The Center, which began operations in J...

IBM will expand its Global Security Service Center in Costa Rica making it the biggest in Latin America. With an investment of $21 million, IBM will expand its operations in the country including its current infrastructure. The Global Security Service Center monitors security events for clients in over 130 countries; the expansion will allow it to triple its capacity and it will add new service...

The CooperVision contact lens manufacturing facility in Alajuela, Costa Rica has been awarded prestigious LEED® Silver certification for its environmentally-conscious design and operation. The 100,000-square-foot site, opened in 2016, produces the company’s popular clariti® 1-day silicone hydrogel contact lenses. It is believed to be the only LEED Silver-certified contact lens manufacturing site i...

The company Standard Fruit Company in Costa Rica, a subsidiary of Dole, closed their work-center in the province of Limon, which included an operations department, terminal and workshop, affecting a total of 240 employees. The reason of the closure is due to the fact that the operations handled by this division are now offered by APM Terminals with a rate that is more convenient for the company...

With an investment of $1.5 million USD, McDonald’s opened its first restaurant in the center of Limón, motivated by the opening of the Moín Container Terminal, and the new opportunities in business that this represents for the province. The opening of the restaurant generated 50 new jobs, it has a total area of 425 square meters (4,575 square ft.) plus the parking area, having a capacity for 15...

Nine out of ten people in the world breath air with contamination levels that are higher than those recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), being aware of this problem is what inspired a Costa Rican company to create “Essential Air”, cans of 100% rainforest air from Costa Rica. "WHO estimates that around 7 million people die every year from exposure to fine particles in polluted air...

Britt Coffee continues to grow in and out of Costa Rica, this time with the Britt Café & Bakery division that already has six locations in the country and expects to open at least three more in 2019. “We have plans for 2019 to open three more coffee shops in the Great Metropolitan Area (GAM). For the second semester of 2019 we expect to have the first opening of an international franchise”, sai...

Day in, day out, a team of Costa Ricans are working to put Costa Rica once again on the global innovation map. This is happening at Establishment Labs, a company that works on research and development, design, manufacture and marketing of new products for minimally invasive and prophylactic breast reconstruction surgery. At present, the professional team at this company – the first Costa Rican ...

The Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE) and the Ministry of Foreign Trade (COMEX) announced the generation of 12,691 new jobs for Costa Ricans in 2018. These were created through the 48 new investment projects developed during the year, including new multinational companies arriving in Costa Rica, in addition to the already established companies that reported growth in service, digital...

Edwards Lifesciences Corporation, global leader in patient-focused medical innovations for structural heart disease, as well as critical care and surgical monitoring, plans to hire 370 employees as part of its expansion in Costa Rica. “We are proud to contribute from Costa Rica to today’s and tomorrow’s product development that aid patients worldwide. Our new facilities will start operating 100...

The United States, China and the Netherlands are three dynamic markets that have been important to the medical devices sector in Costa Rica. For second year-round, it continues to be Costa Rica’s top goods export with 29% of all its exports, equivalent to $2,758 million. This is based on October’s goods exports report, submitted by PROCOMER and COMEX. The sector’s growth is $412 million more th...

American credit rating agency Moody’s announced this December 5th they have “downgraded the Government of Costa Rica's long-term issuer and senior unsecured bond ratings to B1 from Ba2 and changed its rating outlook to negative, concluding the review for downgrade that was initiated on 18 October 2018”. Moody’s stated that the key drivers for the downgrade are: 1. The continued and projected...

The prestigious international magazine The European chose CINDE as Latin America’s top “Investment Promotion Agency of the Year” in the recent ranking Global Banking & Finance Awards 2018. This is the second consecutive year that CINDE receives this award. CINDE also obtained first place as Business Innovation Hub-Latin America, thanks to the FDI’s dynamism during this year. Jorge Sequei...

The Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE) announced that multinational company MSD, opened today the Pharmacovigilance Data Management Center in Costa Rica. This center will be processing information about adverse events from commercialized drugs and worldwide clinical studies. This is the fourth center established by the company at strategic sites to keep the research management uninter...

The multinational company GSK opened today the fourth phase of its Business Service Center (BSC) at Terra Campus, Tres Ríos, Costa Rica. It plans to hire more than 700 people by the end of 2019 and looks forward to strengthening the variety of shared services offered from Costa Rica to the rest of GSK worldwide. The BSC, which began its operations in Costa Rica in 2013, has strengthened since ...

Like every year, the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce (MEIC) calls on small and medium size corporations to request their condition as PYME to be exonerated from the 2019 Yearly Corporation Tax, for this, the deadline to register and request the exoneration is December 3. This action is carried out following what’s established in Law 9428 “Corporation Tax Law” and its regulations wh...

Credit rating agency Fitch placed Costa Rica’s Issuer Default Ratings (IDR’s), which is basically an opinion on an issuer’s general capacity to fulfill its financial obligations, on rating watch negative (RWN), this gives the country anywhere from one to three months to resolve its public finances before lowering its already low rating. Costa Rica is currently rated as BB (elevated vulnerabilit...

Tech Data announced it has opened a new Customer Lifecycle Management Services location in Escazú, Costa Rica. Opening this November 12, the new facility will provide additional capacity to accommodate new customer success programs. Part of Tech Data's Global Lifecycle Management Services portfolio, the Customer Lifecycle Management Services team offers programs to help customers expand their...

It is very common for people to believe that selling a business in Costa Rica is the same as selling a piece of real estate. This is not necessarily true as there might be many different situations to consider which could change the scenario. The Business may or may be not part of the real estate transaction, meaning sometimes the owner also owns the business operating at that property. Sometim...

The Clinica Biblica Hospital inaugurated this November 5 its new facilities in the area of Santa Ana, San José, Costa Rica. The new building involves 7,000 square meters of the hospital building and 8,000 square meters of the parking lot tower, this is the second location the private medical center opens, but it has plans to open two other facilities, one in Heredia and another in Tres Rios wit...

Stryker, a leading medical technology company, announced it will open an office in the San Antonio Business Park in Heredia, Costa Rica. In the first phase of hiring, the company plans to fill approximately 90 positions to support general accounting, accounts receivable and accounts payable activities. The Minister of Foreign Trade, Dyalá Jiménez said: “Costa Rica’s services sector has becom...

The Doing Business 2019 report from the World Bank takes into consideration reforms made across the governments which benefit small and medium businesses and entrepreneurs, enabling job creation and stimulating private investment. “These reforms are tracked – and inspired – by the World Bank Group’s Doing Business Index ranking 190 countries on the ease of doing business within their borders”. ...

The Costa Rican-American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) celebrated the start of operations of the Moin Container Terminal (APM Terminals) since it considers it the first step to the reaffirmation of the efficiency of the concession model in the country and the economic reactivation of the province of Limon. “AmCham recognizes the seriousness and commitment of the concession company APM Terminals ...

The Container Terminal in Moin, Limon, began operations this past week in a first stage, although officially it won’t be inaugurated until February 2019. The terminal expects to be servicing an average 10 vessels a week by the start of 2019, increasing gradually the number of services offered. “The start of operations of the Moin Container Terminal broadens the scene of our international com...

American credit rating agency Moody’s announced it has "placed the Government of Costa Rica's BA2 long-term issuer ratings and the Ba2 senior unsecured bond ratings on review for downgrade. Back in 2017, Moody’s had already downgraded Costa Rica’s government bond rating from BA1 to BA2, maintaining the negative outlook of the rating and pointing as the key driver behind the downgrade “the conti...

The multinational company Precision Concepts Medical Technologies announced during the Life Sciences Forum this week in Costa Rica that it will invest US$5 million to expand its presence in the country and build a more robust molding and engineering infrastructure. "In 1984, the company was given the opportunity to manufacture the first medical device which was the beginning of a successful pa...

NOXTAK, a multinational firm specializing in nanotechnology for the control and mitigation of electromagnetic pollution from any source, has announced that it has chosen Costa Rica for setting up its operations. In the coming months, the company will start hiring personnel for manufacturing, design and engineering. At present, 11 employees are already working in the company’s administrative off...

Establishment Labs Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: ESTA), a global medical technology company that focuses on breast aesthetics and reconstruction technologies, which became, earlier this year the first Costa Rican company to trade in the Nasdaq stock market, announced earlier this week, at the Annual World Symposium on Ergonomic Implants that it has entered into definitive asset purchase agreements with...