Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia

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 coming from a variety of institutional investors including DnB NORD Asset Management, LHV Asset Management, SEB Venture Capital, and Swedbank Asset Management.

Autoliv, the Swedish manufacturer of automotive safety equipment, is ramping up efforts to complete a full takeover of Estonia's Norma. Autoliv expects to increase its share in the seat belt producer to more than 90% with the backing of institutional investors. Those investors control a combined 26.4% of Norma, with Autoliv currently holding 51%.

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.

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.