Litcapital has agreed to invest up to LTL 10 mln (USD 3.78 mln) into Baltic Bicycle Trade UAB. The company is owned by the German cult bicycle manufacturer Pantherwerke AG, as yet carrying out exclusively wholesale and retail trade activities. To meet the increasing demand for electric bicycles in Western Europe Pantherwerke decided to move its manufacturing unit from [...]

Lithuanian VC fund Practica Capital has provided a seed funding of EUR 180,000 to 3D graphics marketplace CGTrader. CGTrader’s offering is similar to that of GrabCAD, an Estonian designer community for 3D artists, but differs in that it provides a marketplace for designers to sell their work to the public. With a user base of [...]

Swedish VC firm East Capital has purchased a Lithuanian shopping mall in Vilnius from Ektornet, a subsidiary of the Swedbank Group. The mall, called Gedimino 9, will benefit from the funding by getting improvements to its commercial aspects as well as a re-shaping and brand positioning in the near future. The deal was completed through [...]

BaltCap has sought permission from anti-monopoly authorities in Lithuania for a 45.3 per cent acquisition of stake in one of the top four coffee retailers in the nation – Keturi Kambariai. The Lithuanian Competition Council (LCC) received BaltCap’s application to invest a total of USD 3.74 mln (LTL 10 mln) in the retail chain Coffee [...]

Pending Lithuania Competition Council clearance, PE fund LitCapital I will invest in Nordnet Group, a logistics company that deals with chilled and frozen foods and beverages. The group comprises UAB Nordnet, which handles storage and distribution to retail chains and wholesale operators, and UAB Tehoreal, which manages their warehouse real estate properties. The funding from [...]

PE fund LitCapital is extending its investment portfolio with an agreement to put money into Brolis Semiconductors, a semiconductor technology company specializing in long-wavelength mid infrared laser diodes and production technology for lasers. The company’s founders are still in the process of completing their PhDs, but have attracted considerable attention from top tech companies. LitCapital (www.litcapital.lt) [...]

Invalda Group has invested LTL 38.6 mln (EUR 11.2 mln) to buy 36.9 percent of Lithuania’s leading agricultural company Litagra.

BaltCap has picked up a majority stake in Lithuania’s leading health and fitness club chain Impuls LTU through the Lithuania SME Fund. The USD 2 million investment would be used for potential add-on acquisitions in the future as the health club eyes organic growth in the under-penetrated domestic market. The Impuls deal is the second [...]

A loan valued at EUR 34.4 million will be granted by EBRD to AS Graanul Invest. The loan will be used by Graanul Invest to build two new fuel pellet facilities. These factories include an additional plant in Estonia and one in Latvia. AS Graanul Invest (www.graanulinvest.ee) The company was first established in 2003, building [...]

BaltCap will make its first investment from the Lithuania SME Fund into Ygle, Lithuania’s leading provider of building systems solutions. The Lithuania SME Fund is co-financed by the JEREMIE (Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises) Holding Fund which is held by the European Investment Fund. Ygle (www.ygle.lt) Ygle mainly provides services to retail, [...]

Valeant, a Canadian pharmaceuticals company, has announced it will purchase Sanitas, a Lithuanian pharmaceutical company for USD 443 million. In addition to the purchase price, Valent will assume almost USD 70 million of Sanitas debt. This purchase accounts for 87.2% of all outstanding stock of the company, and represents approximately a .80 per share premium [...]

Czech investor Royalton Partners has made its first Lithuanian investment, and its second deal in the Baltic states, by acquiring 100% of Litcargus UAB from Cerbus Holdings, Ltd. The acquisition will be made through the Royalton Capital Investors II fund which was originally established in 2007 to focus on Poland, Romania, and the Czech Republic. [...]

A handful of funds currently controlling 37.47% of Lithuanian appliance maker Snaige AB have informed the company of their intentions to submit a non-competitive tender that would enable them to acquire a controlling stake of 62.53%. The funds plan to pay for the acquisition in cash. Included in the group are KJK Fund SICAV-SIF (Luxembourg), Firebird Republics Fund [...]

Baltic region venture capital firm BaltCap has announced an investment which gives it a controlling interest in Kelprojektas, a Lithuanian engineering company. More than 90% of Kelprojektas’ total shares were acquired by the BaltCap Private Equity Fund from the company’s former shareholders. Those former shareholders included an unnamed financial investor and two separate road construction [...]

In a continuing drive to increase its presence in the Lithuanian internet hosting market, Baltic Data Center has acquired 100% of Hostex from previous owner Martinson Trigon. Terms of the deal are being keep private by both parties, but Martinson Trigon valued the company at EEK 21.2 million in December of 2009. The deal comes [...]

A new risk capital fund from BaltCap, the leading private equity investor in the Baltic States, has attracted some €20 million from several key investors. The fund is focused on Lithuanian micro, small and medium enterprises and is part of the JEREMIE Holding Fund (JHF) initiative for Lithuania. JHF contributed €14 million with the remainder [...]

Poland’s PKN Orlen has announced it has put Czech chemical company Spolana Neratovice on the sale block and will enter final talks with three possible buyers in January 2010. The names of the buyers have not been disclosed, nor has the sale price, but estimates suggest PKN Orlen could make more than Kč 10 billion [...]

In an attempt to fight off a buyout bid from TeliaSonera, Sweden’s East Capital Asset Management has increased its stake in Lithuanian telecom company TEO LT to 5.54%, at a cost of roughly EUR 8.5 million. TeliaSonera offered a buyout bid of LTL 1.83 per share for the 34.5% held by others investors, but was [...]

After gaining approval from government regulators, AB Bank SNORAS has completed a 100% acquisition of fellow Lithuanian banking group Finasta Imoniu Finansai. The transaction includes LLC Finasta, AB Bank Finasta, IPAS Invalda Asset Management Latvia, and Invalda Turto Valdymas; all purchased by SNORAS from investment management firm AB Invalda. SNORAS spent LTL 45.75 million on [...]

Invalda, one of the strongest investment firms in Central Europe, has decided to pull the plug on its involvement with VIPC Klaipeda, a company formed to develop real estate in Klaipeda, Lithuania. Invalda has sold its stake in VIPC Klaipeda, which amounts to 47% of total shares, for an undisclosed amount. The company had originally [...]