Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia

BaltCap Latvia has announced a new Latvian-focused venture capital fund in concert with the European Investment Fund (EIF), making it the first to complete fundraising under EIF's JEREMIE process. JEREMIE is made available to select financial institutions through the EU Cohesion policy to help streamline and maximize SME investment.

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 out-bid by East Capital. Minority investors determined the TeliaSonera bid was too low and in the end, only 2.88% of the shares were tendered. East Capital made an earlier offer to purchase shares held in treasury by TEO, but that offer was ignored leading to the recent acquisition of shares on the market.

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.

Latvia's second largest bank, Parex Bank, is slated to receive assistance from the EBRD. The state of Latvia owns nearly an 85% stake in the bank which has suffered drastically during the economic downturn. If approved by authorities, the deal would give the EBRD 25% plus one of the total shares of Parex in exchange for an €84.2 million equity investment.

GILD Bankers, the private equity firm based in Estonia, has established a new equity fund named Long Haul II. This fund follows in the successful footsteps of GILD's original Long Haul fund which has provided a 31% return to investors since its establishment in 1999. The new fund has a target of EUR 50 million with plans to invest primarily in the Baltic States, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

MVC Capital, a publicly traded Private Equity company announced that, along with its partner Riga Capital, has completed a € 19.7 million (USD 28.1 million) capital increase into Lithuanian based systems integrator, FIMA.

Leading Baltic investment bank Gild Bankers, has become a minority partner in Enter, the Estonian digital goods retail chain. The EUR 2 million investment was made through GILD's Arbitrage Fund, the only multi-strategy hedge fund in the Baltics.

AS MicroLink Eesti has acquired the Baltic IT training and consultant firm IT Koolituskeskuse OÜ from BaltCap.

Norby Networks UAB was acquired by Baltnetos Komunikacijos for an unreported amount. Martinson Trigon Venture Partners divested itself from the company after splitting MicroLink Lietuva, a company it acquired in 2005, into Norby Networks UAB and HOSTEX UAB.

Contaq Latvian Cable and ARGUS Capital Group acquired Latvian cable television company IZZI SIA / Tella Capital Limited for €20 million in junior capital provided by the Syntaxis Mezzanine Fund. One-hundred percent of Tella Capital's shares were purchased. Klavins & Slaidins in Riga and Macfarlanes in London both served as advisors to Syntaxis Capital in what is the company's fifth investment to-date.