Estonia, Good for Business, Markets and Companies, Mergers and take-overs, Transport
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Friday, 29.03.2024, 13:54
Hansabuss acquired majority holding in the Estonian bus company Samat
According
to Neeme Tammis,,the company is
strengthening its position in the Estonian bus transport market with this
transaction. “Samat is a bus company
that has been operating for over 25 years and has managed to secure a solid and
stable position in the market. Hansabuss sees this as an opportunity to
contribute to Samat’s further
development. The economies of scale and efficiency associated with the size of
the enterprise are the prerequisites for providing passengers with transport
solutions at attractive and competitive prices in the long term while
continuously investing in employees and the bus fleet. We also intend to expand
in Estonia and in the Baltics as a whole should such opportunities arise,” Tammis
said.
Samat’s former majority shareholder and member of
the management board Mart Prikk will
continue in Samat’s supervisory board
and will remain actively involved in the company. “I believe that passengers
will be the ones to particularly benefit from this transaction. Hansabuss also has extensive experience
in passenger transport, and we will be able to further improve the quality of Samat’s services together,” Prikk said.
Samat’s new management board includes Karel Prikk, who has previously taken part
in the management of the company’s daily operation, and Kalmar Meidla, manager of the department of transport and logistics
for Estonia at Hansabuss.
Samat AS primarily operates various commercial,
county and rural municipality routes in Harju County and provides charter
services. Samat’s turnover for 2016
has been forecast to reach approximately 3 mln euros. The company employs over
80 people. Samat’s bus fleet
comprises 51 buses, including 35 large buses and 16 minibuses. The transaction
will result in the annual turnover of the Hansabuss
group exceeding 20 mln euros, its staff numbering over 500 people and its
fleet accumulating over 320 vehicles.
For the
purposes of the transaction, the buyer was advised by the investment bank Michel Capital and the law firm Fort, and the seller was advised by the
law firm Sorainen. Under the
agreement of the parties, the transaction value is confidential.
The Hansabuss group comprises the parent
company Hansabuss AS and its
subsidiaries Hansa Bussiliinid AS, Samat
AS, Hansabuss Latvia SIA, Tukuma Auto SIA and Tutransauto SIA. Hansabuss
itself is a part of the Hansa Group (NTH
Holding OÜ), which also includes car rental companies Hansarent OÜ and Baltic
Mobility OÜ (Europcar Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as well as Interrent Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania)
and AS Iv Pluss, specialising in the
sale and maintenance of Iveco and Iveco Bus vehicles. The consolidated total
revenue of the Hansa Group exceeds 35
mln euros per year, and the group’s companies provide over 600 jobs in the
Baltics.