Category: Estonia

PwC Legal has advised Pohjanmaan Osuuspankki on the sale of majority holdings in White Beach Development AS and WBG Klubihoone OU, which make up the White Beach Golf course, to Rae Golf OU.

Rae Golf is an Estonian sports company with a primary focus on golf. White Beach Golf is an 18-hole golf course located near Valgeranna Beach, in Parnu County, Estonia,

Pohjanmaan Osuuspankki is a Finnish financial group that offers retail banking services to private customers, small- and medium-sized companies, agricultural and forestry companies, as well as non-life insurance services to private customers.

According to PwC Legal, “as a result of the transaction golfers will be able to play golf on Rae Golf Course in Harju County and Valgeranna in Parnu County with one membership pass. This collaboration aims to multiply the number of people playing golf in Estonia.”

PwC Legal’s team included Managing Partner Karin Marosov and Attorneys Indrek Ergma and Ingeri-Helena Kakko.

PwC Legal did not reply to our inquiry on the matter.

Sorainen has successfully represented Tallinna Haridusamet (the Tallinn Education Department) in public procurement disputes before the Public Procurement Review Committee, Tallinn Administrative Court, and Tallinn Circuit Court.

According to Sorainen, the disputes followed public tenders for catering services in Estonia. “The public tender concerned the provision of school catering services for 24 municipal schools in Tallinn,” the firm informed. “Hence, the tender was divided into 24 lots. The total estimated value of all the lots was approximately EUR 25 million, making it one of the largest tenders of catering services in Estonia of all time. With a total of 65 municipal schools in Tallinn, the procurement and following disputes concerned the catering in nearly 40% of the schools in Tallinn.”

“Of the seven cases, six were decided in favor of Haridusamet either in the Public Procurement Review Committee or, later, in Tallinn’s Administrative Court or the Tallinn Circuit Court,” according to Sorainen. “One case ended with a decision by the Tallinn Circuit Court declaring two decisions by Haridusamet to be unlawful. However, in that case, the public contracts were already lawfully signed. Haridusamet was able to conclude 22 contracts out of 24 envisaged by the tender, and catering in municipal schools was at all times ensured.”

The Sorainen team was led by Senior Associate Mario Sorm and included Partner Kaido Kunnapas and Senior Associate Kadri Harginen.

Sorainen has advised Rail Baltic Estonia on the procurement procedure for the construction of the Rail Baltica Ulemiste joint terminal and its surrounding area.

“The goal of this international tender is to find a contractor for the Ulemiste passenger terminal called Linda, its surrounding area, and the railway infrastructure,” Sorainen informed. “The estimated cost of the project is approximately EUR 178 million and the terminal is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.”

According to Sorainen, the total area of the Ulemiste terminal building and the construction site in its vicinity is approximately 2.4 square kilometers. “The procurement framework also includes the construction of related infrastructure, the relocation of the 1520 millimeter gauge railway, and the construction of a new section.”

“Rail Baltica is an environmentally friendly and comfortable railway connection that unites Estonia with its southern neighbors and Middle-European countries,” the firm added. “The new infrastructure allows passengers to travel from Tallinn to Parnu in 40 minutes and to Riga in 1 hour 42 minutes.”

Sorainen recently advised on a Rail Baltica public procurement dispute before the Procurement Monitoring Bureau of Latvia (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on March 7, 2022).

The Sorainen team included Senior Associates Mario Sorm, Mirjam Vichmann, Kadri Harginen, and Kaspar Endrikson.

TGS Baltic has advised Cybernetica on selling its digital air traffic management tower technology to Adacel.

Adacel is an air traffic management technology and services provider. According to TGS Baltic, “with the transaction, Adacel will take over the development of the digital tower technology created by Cybernetica. The tower allows 24/7 air traffic management from a distance while maintaining safety. Currently, the main client in Estonia for this technology is Lennuliiklusteeninduse (Estonian Air Navigation Services), with the first tower deployed remotely in Kuressaare.”

TGS Baltic’s team included Managing Partner Sander Karson, Senior Associate Carel Kivimaa, and Associate Mari Anne Valberg.

TGS Baltic did not reply to our inquiry on the matter.

TGS Baltic has advised Eesti Post/Omniva on its acquisition of Express Post from Ekspress Grupp and Postimees Grupp.

The transaction remains contingent on regulatory approval.

Express Post, established in 1997, delivers press publications, advertising materials, and business letters in and around the largest cities in Estonia. Express Post also provides a call center service and subscriber database management services.

Eesti Post is a state-owned postal services company in Estonia. As of June of 2014, Eesti Post has combined most of its services under the trademark Omniva.

According to TGS Baltic, the purpose of the transaction is to find a more sustainable business model for the newspaper delivery service.

TGS Baltic’s team included Partner Kadri Kallas, Counsel Triinu Jarviste, and Associate Mari Anne Valberg.

TGS Baltic did not reply to our inquiry on the matter.

Ellex has advised Coop Pank on its EUR 10 million public offering of subordinated bonds.

“Until March 3, investors were able to subscribe to 10-year unsecured subordinated bonds of Coop Pank with a fixed interest rate of 5.0% per annum,” Ellex informed. “553 investors participated in the subscription and submitted applications for a total of EUR 13.9 million, thus exceeding the base issue volume of EUR 8 million by 1.7 times. Coop Pank exercised its right to increase the issue to EUR 10 million.”

Coop Pank is an Estonian bank, focusing on private customers and small and medium-sized businesses.

“The bank’s investor base is expanding every year,” Coop Pank Management Board Chairman Margus Rink commented. “Since the founding of Coop Pank in 2017, Coop has been the strategic owner of the bank. The initial public offering in the fall of 2019 and the following two years attracted nearly 28,000 retail investors. We consider it important that our investor base also include institutional investors. Based on this, when distributing bonds this time, we give preference not only to existing customers, shareholders, and bondholders but also to institutions. Therefore, we distributed two-thirds of the total issue among investors who subscribed to 100 or more bonds (worth EUR 100,000 or more).”

The Ellex team included Partner Gerli Kivisoo, Senior Associate Kadi Sink, and Lawyer Anastassia Ostrovskaja.

Ellex did not respond to our inquiry on the matter.

Ellex has advised the LHV Group on its EUR 8 Million acquisition of the shares in EveryPay. Fort Legal advised the seller.

“EveryPay shareholders, in turn, will receive new shares issued by LHV Group. The final decision on whether to go ahead with the transaction will be made on 30 March 2022, at LHV’s general meeting of shareholders,” Ellex informed. “Founders Joel Mitt and Lauri Teder will continue working for EveryPay post-acquisition.”

EveryPay is a payment gateway platform connecting banks and e-commerce companies with card payments and open banking payments methods. The company also offers automatic payments, mass payments, standing payments, and LinkPay payments.

LHV Group is an Estonian financial group and capital provider.

“More than before, we wish to grow business activities related to payment services,” LHV Group CEO Madis Toomsalu commented. “This has become an important part of LHV’s strategy. We see the local retail banking segment, the financial intermediaries segment, and the United Kingdom e-commerce companies segment as our target groups across LHV Group’s companies. Payment collection businesses related to e-commerce, such as online card payments and open banking payments, are rapidly increasing in terms of the Estonian retail banking segment. The joint offer of LHV and EveryPay to e-commerce merchants is one of the best in Estonia.”

The Ellex team included Partner Gerli Kivisoo, Counsels Rutt Vark and Dmitri Rozenblat, Senior Associates Hanna Pahk, Merlin Liis-Toomela, and Meree Punab, and Lawyer Liis Tava.

The Fort team included Managing Partner Kuldar-Jaan Torokoff.

Magnusson has advised Saint-Gobain Eesti on the divestment of its flat glass processing business Baltiklaas to Barrus. Tark advised Barrus on the deal.

Financial details were not disclosed.

Barrus is a glued laminated timber manufacturer in Estonia. Baltiklaas employs more than 200 people across two sites located in Tartu and Mao. Saint-Gobain Eesti is a member of light and sustainable construction company Saint-Gobain Group.

Magnusson’s team was led by Of Counsel Priit Pahapill and included Senior Associate Mait Valberg, Associates Linda Merileid Tilk and Ketlin Peterson, and Compliance Officer Lev Goffert.

Tark’s team included Managing Partner Tanel Tark, Partners Marit Savi and Tanel Kuun, Associate Katri Tsesnokov, and Lawyer Tarvi Salu.

Ellex has advised EyeVi on its USD 2 million seed funding round led by FF Venture Capital.

EyeVi provides road service surveyors, repair crews, and municipalities with computer hardware and artificial intelligence-driven software as a service to map and identify road infrastructure needs.

RKKVC, Decacorn Capital, Iron Wolf Capital, Superangel, Spring Capital, Kaamos Group, and several Estonian business angels including AuveTech founder Vaino Kaldoja and former Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Roivas participated in the round.  

According to Ellex, “EyeVi, an Estonian startup, plans to build out tools to automate road data capture to improve maintenance and operations and expand into U.S. markets.”

“Road surveying technologies used today are either outdated or prohibitively expensive, which means that preventative maintenance is out of reach for most vendors,” EyeVi CEO Gaspar Anton commented. “Governments across the world are facing massive backlogs in road maintenance works, and with advanced geospatial mapping and predictive data analytics, we can create the perfect conditions for smarter budget allocation. What we’re doing here is leveraging the power of artificial intelligence for a very real-world application and introducing a flexible and cost-effective hardware solution that together will help unlock better insights to solve the issue of road maintenance in a much more effective way.”

The Ellex team included Counsel Antti Perli, Senior Associate Hanna Pahk, Associate Liisbeth Lillo, and Lawyer Priit Pruks.

Ellex did not respond to our inquiry on the matter.

Ellex has advised the East Capital Baltic Property Fund II on the sale of three commercial real estate assets to Neoinvesteeringud subsidiaries.

According to the firm, “as a result of the transaction, Neoinvesteeringud will acquire a controlling interest in companies operating the Tanassilma logistics center, the logistics center in Rae rural municipality where Rimi’s Estonian head office operates, and the Metro Plaza office building in Tallinn city center.”

Jyri Logistics develops and leases a logistics center in Porguvalja, Rae rural municipality. Tanassilma Logistics develops and leases the Tanassilma logistics center and consists of two assets located in the village of Tanassilma, Tallinn. Metro Arimaja develops and leases the Metro Plaza office building.

East Capital Real Estate is a real estate manager focusing on commercial real estate investments in the Baltics and Central Europe, primarily in the logistics, office, retail, and hospitality sectors.

Neoinvesteeringud is an Estonian holding company that is active in real estate investments.

“The assets purchased from East Capital Real Estate fit into our portfolio, are well managed, and are strategically located,” Neoinvesteeringud Management Board member Anders Anderson commented. “We believe that we can provide high-quality service to the current and future tenants of these assets, while also being a long-term partner.”

The Ellex team included Partners Martin Kaerdi, Martin Triipan, and Martin Maesalu, Counsels Jaanus Ikla and Toomas Kasesalu, Senior Associates Kaisa Laidvee and Gerda Liik, Associate Karin Tartu, and Lawyers Miikael Tuus and Erik Seim.

Ellex did not respond to our inquiry on the matter.