Last night the most groundbreaking transactions in the region during the past 12 months were announced at the Baltic M&A and Private Equity Forum 2018 gala event in Tallinn. The most outstanding transactions are the acquisition of Magnetic MRO, Taxify’s fundraising, Euroapotheca’s acquisition of Apoteksgruppen and the IPO of the Port of Tallinn.

Here is an overview of the winning deals:

  • Baltic M&A Deal of the Year 2018: Acquisition of Estonian Magnetic MRO by Chinese Guangzhou Hangxin Aviation Technology Co.

Guangzhou Hangxin Aviation Technology Co., Ltd. acquired Estonia-based aircraft maintenance and repair organisation Magnetic MRO for EUR 43.17 million. This investment by a Chinese industry player provided an opportunity for a Baltic company to expand into Asia. Furthermore, the deal marked a successful exit by private equity and venture capital investor BaltCap from a private equity investment after supporting company growth from a small regional player to a profitable global company.

Closing a EUR 151 million funding round took valuation of the Estonia-based ride-sharing start-up to the USD 1 billion mark, making Taxify a unicorn. Venture capital investments by strategic groups DiDi and Daimler support the fast-paced growth of the company.

  • Outbound Deal from the Baltics 2018: Euroapotheca’s acquisition of Apoteksgruppen in Sweden

Having acquired 156 privately owned Apoteksgruppen pharmacies, Euroapotheca will become the fourth largest player in the Swedish pharmacy retail market with a market share of approx 9%, uniting a pharmacy network of more than 600 pharmacies.

  • Baltic Public Offering of the Year 2018: IPO of the Port of Tallinn – listing on Nasdaq in Tallinn

With a total value of EUR 147.4 million, this is the first state-owned company listing in Estonia in almost 20 years and the first IPO of a major state-owned transport infrastructure asset in the Baltics.

This last but not least ad hoc award category was introduced for the first time to mark an exceptionally busy year of public offerings of shares by Baltic companies.

You can read more about previous years’ award-winners here: 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014.

The winners were selected by an independent pan-Baltic jury:

  • Dace Silava-Tomsone, Managing Partner of Cobalt Latvia
  • Enn Listra, Dean, Professor of Finance and Banking at TalTech School of Business and Governance
  • Jânis Janevics, Partner at Imprimatur Capital
  • Jûratë Majauskienë, Associate Partner at Summa Advisers
  • Kristiina Koort, Managing Director of the Estonian Private Equity & Venture Capital Association
  • Vytautas Plunksnis, Head of Private Equity at INVL Asset Management

The jury assessed the value, complexity, innovative structure and strategic importance of deals to the Baltic region as well as involvement of regional representatives.  To be eligible, a transaction had to be completed within the past 12 months. This means that the nominees do not include some major transactions that have been announced but are not yet completed, such as the proposed acquisition of Luminor Bank by Blackstone and the acquisition of Nelja Energia by Eesti Energia.

Comments Toomas Prangli, co-head of the Sorainen Corporate and M&A Practice Group: “The Baltic M&A market is booming – the past 12 months have witnessed a number of complex transactions. We congratulate the award-winners – competition this year has been intense”. “We wish Baltic entrepreneurs courage to continue at the same pace”,  he adds.

About The Baltic M&A and Private Equity Forum 2018

In cooperation with Sorainen, the leading business publications in three countries – Verslo Þinios (Lithuania), Dienas Bizness (Latvia) and Äripäev (Estonia) – organised the 9th annual Baltic M&A and Private Equity Forum. Every year, the forum gathers over 200 representatives from private equity and venture capital funds and investment banking, consultants, lawyers, and business executives and owners from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. This year, the forum was held on 18-19 October in Tallinn.