Estonia, Good for Business, Internet, Markets and Companies, Mergers and take-overs

AllePal OU, an operator of real estate and general classifieds portals in Estonia fully owned by Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG), seeks to acquire with the transaction single dominance over Auto24 and VIN Solutions OU. The majority holding in BCG, in turn, is owned by investment funds advised by Apax Partners LLP.

Auto24 is an operator of automotive classifieds portal in Estonia and its translated versions in Latvia, Lithuania and Finland as well as a general classifieds portal in Estonia and the Autoleht car magazine. Auto24 also operates the website motors24.ee and provides consultation services through the website automaakler.ee.

In August this year, BCG signed an agreement to acquire car classifieds portal auto24.ee and generalist classifieds portal kuldnebors.ee. As a part of the ongoing merger clearance proceedings with the Estonian Competition Authority, BCG intends to dispose of part of its generalist classifieds business.

The Estonian Competition Authority on Dec. 23 permitted a subsidiary of UP Invest OU, a holding company belonging to Estonian businessman Margus Linnamae, to buy back the generalist classifieds portal Soov.ee.