Baltic States – CIS, Energy, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Gas, Legislation

"Receiving the endorsement from the Competition Authority allows us to start substantive work for the development of Eesti Gaas and transforming it into a broad-based energy company based on domestic capital," Ain Hanschmidt, board chairman of the holding company AS Infortar, said in a press release.

"Similarly to the offer made to Fortum, we have made an offer to buy shares to Gazprom and Itera Latvija and are expecting their responses in the coming few months. After that we will make the same offer also to the other shareholders," Hanschmidt said.

OU Trilini Energy on Feb. 23 entered into an agreement with Fortum Heat and Gas OY to purchase a 51% holding in AS Eesti Gaas. Trilini Energy also has made a purchase offer to Gazprom, which holds 37% of the shares in Eesti Gaas, and to Itera Latvija, which holds 10%. Minority shareholders hold 1.57% of the shares in Eesti Gaas combined.  

AS Infortar holds 57% of the shares in Trilini Energy OU. Trilini Energy is led by the chairman of the supervisory board of Eesti Gaas, Aarne Saar. Other owners of the company include member of the supervisory board of Eesti Gaas and head of the Latvian gas company Itera Latvija, Juris Savickis, and transit businessman Viktor Golinski, who is also a minority shareholder in Eesti Gaas.

AS Infortar, an investment company with owners' equity of 381 million euros, is active in shipping, real estate, hotels and printing. In addition to 38% of the shares of the listed shipper AS Tallink Grupp, AS Infortar's portfolio of investments includes approximately 90,000 square meters of different hotel and SPA properties in Tallinn and over 350,000 square meters of land in Tallinn and nearby.

AS Eesti Gaas is a seller of natural gas and electricity. The group consists of AS EG Ehitus, designer and builder of gas networks and facilities, and AS Gaasivorgud, provider of the distribution service.

Eesti Gaas employs a workforce of 205 and its revenue amounted to 130 million euros last year according to unaudited figures. AS Eesti Gaas sold 386 million cubic meters of natural gas in 2015, it has 1,570 corporate clients and 41,160 household clients. Eesti Gaas also sells electricity to corporate and private clients, and electricity sales by Eesti Gaas last year amounted to 9.7 GWh.