Estonian Competition Board gave its permission for acquisition of Eesti Gaas
The Competition Board decided to issue an acquisition permission to Trilini Energy OÜ (subsidiary of AS Infortar). The permission allows the company that has already purchased the majority stake in Eesti Gaas to continue buying shares in the enterprise.
“Permission of the Competition Board allows us to commence actual work on development of Eesti Gaas and turning it into a diversified energy company based on domestic capital,” says the chairman of the management board of AS Infortar Ain Hanschmidt.
“Besides Fortum, we have made share purchase proposals to Gazprom and Itera Latvija. We expect their answers in the coming months. After that we will make similar offers to other shareholders,” adds Hanschmidt.
On 23 February OÜ Trilini Energy concluded the contract with Fortum Heat and Gas OY for purchase of 51% share package in AS Eesti Gaas. Trilini Energy also made purchase offers to Gazprom that owns 37% of Eesti Gaas and to Itera Latvija that owns 10% of Eesti Gaas. Minority shareholders own 1.57% of Eesti Gaas in total.
The holding company Infortar AS possesses 57% of Trilini Energy OÜ established specifically for purchase of Eesti Gaas. Besides Infortar owners of Trilini Energy include a long-term member of management and supervisory boards of AS Eesti Gaas Aarne Saar, vice-chairman of council of Latvijas Gaze Juris Savickis and transit entrepreneur Viktor Golinski.
AS Infortar is an investment company with the equity capital of 381 million euros active in shipping, real estate, accommodation and printing industry sectors. In addition to 38% participation in AS Tallink Grupp, investment portfolio of AS Infortar includes ca. 65,000 m² of various hotel and SPA real estate in Tallinn and over 350,000 m² of land in Tallinn and its surroundings. AS Infortar is the owner of AS Vaba Maa printing shop and the developer of the future multifunctional shopping and entertainment center Tallink City.
AS Eesti Gaas is engaged in sales of natural gas and electricity. The group of companies consists of AS EG Ehitus that focuses on design and construction of gas pipelines and facilities and AS Gaasivõrgud that provides distribution services. The company owns five gas fueling stations in Estonia. Eesti Gaas employs 205 persons. According to unaudited data the group’s turnover for the past year amounted to 130 million euros. In 2015 AS Eesti Gaas sold 386 million m3 of natural gas. The company has 1,570 business consumers and 41,160 home consumers. Eesti Gaas sells electricity to home and business consumers: a total of 9.7 GWh of electricity was sold last year.
