29 June 2020 – Founders and Otrais Eko Fonds (”the Sellers”) have sold a controlling stake (51.81%) in AS Eco Baltia to INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund (”the Fund”). AS Eco Baltia is the largest environmental management group for plastic recycling and waste collection in the Baltics. In 2019, Eco Baltia’s group revenues increased by 9% to €70.62 million, with more than 60% of its revenues coming from the recycling sector alone. The group employs more than 800 people and its largest subsidiaries are PET Baltia, Eco Baltia Vide, Nordic Plast and Latvijas Zalais Punkts, respectively.
The deal sees the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (“EBRD”) retain their 30.51% stake in Eco Baltia and Maris Simanovičs, Chairman of the Management board of SIA Eco Baltia grupa, retain a 16.68% stake (via Penvi Investment Ltd).
Baltic Partners supported the Sellers in all stages of transaction, including initial preparation, marketing to investors, support during due diligence, deal structuring and negotiation of transaction documentation. [It was an challenging task to attract investor which would be able to find common ground with multiple stakeholders in the sales process]
Deimantė Korsakaitė, Executive Partner at the Fund, commented: “Investing in proven, leading Baltic companies which clearly demonstrate further growth potential is one of the Fund’s core investment themes. Eco Baltia sits at the forefront of the circular economy for the Baltic region and therefore meets this criterion. This deal represents the third company to join our portfolio and will allow us to capitalise on the growing importance of environmental concerns by focusing on both recycling and lifestyle sustainability enhancement measures.”
INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund with its total size of €165mn is the largest private equity fund in the Baltics with the European Investment Fund (“EIF”) acting as its anchor investor. The EIF has committed €30mn with the support of the European Fund for Strategic Investments, as well as allocating resources from the Baltic Innovation Fund, the “fund of funds” initiative developed in cooperation with the governments of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The Fund seeks to assemble a diversified portfolio of companies, targeting majority or significant minority stake deals and writing tickets of €10mn to €30mn, that showcase high growth potential and the ability to compete on a truly global basis. The Fund is focused on the Baltic States and the neighbouring regions of Poland, Scandinavia and Central Europe specifically. The Fund is managed by one of Lithuania’s leading asset management companies INVL Asset Management, which is part of the Invalda INVL group.
The transaction was led by Baltic Partners team, including Valeri Kulitski (Managing Partner) and Dmitry Smirnov (Partner). For more information please contact the following individuals: