Estonian company AS Operail signed a purchase and sale agreement to sell its business to AS Tiigi Keskus subsidiary RailProject OÜ.
Based on the concluded sales contract, RailProject OÜ submitted an application to the Competition Authority for a permit for the merger of companies. When authorities have given all the necessary approvals, the purchase-sale transaction will be completed.
“The signing of the purchase and sale agreement is an important milestone, and I want to thank all parties for their quick and correct contribution to the privatization of Operail,” said Minister of Infrastructure Vladimir Svet.
“However, a significant part of the work is yet to be done after obtaining various approvals, and therefore the auction cannot be declared finished today. We can provide additional comments on the sales process, as well as the exact price and terms of the transaction when the transaction is finalized,” Svet added.
The tender for the sale of AS Operail’s freight transport and repairs business started on June 7. A two-stage tender was held to find a buyer. In the first stage, those interested in purchasing could familiarize themselves with the initial information package and submit a non-binding offer. Additional information was made available to investors who qualified for the second stage, and binding offers were submitted.
In the second stage of the tender, the best binding bid was made by the Estonian company AS Tiigi Keskus, with whom the final negotiations for signing the purchase-sale agreement began on October 17th.
The sales process is carried out by the investment banking unit of LHV Pank, the legal advisor of the process is Ellex Raidla Advokaadibüroo.
AS Operail is a state-owned company under the administration of the Ministry of Climate. Operail operates in freight transport on Estonian railways and rolling stock maintenance and repairs. Until the beginning of 2023, Operail was also engaged in wagon rental and freight transport in Finland, but the owner decided to exit from these business lines, which are not strategically necessary for the country. In February 2024, the government made a substantive decision to privatize Operail’s remaining business lines.
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