Eversheds Sutherland Ots & Co has advised the Apollo Group on its acquisition of the Piano Group OU, which owns Vapiano restaurants in the Baltics and Finland.
The Piano Group has seven restaurants: three in Tallinn, ones in Tartu and Vilnius, and two in Helsinki. The company's 2018 turnover reportedly amounted to EUR 12 million euros. There are a total of 235 Vapiano restaurants worldwide.
The transaction remains contingent on the approval of the Estonian Competition Authority.
Apollo Group OU is owned by Ivar Vendelin and Margus Linnamae's UP Invest holding company, which owns Apollo Kino movie theaters, Apollo Kauplused bookstores, O'Leary's sports restaurants, Blender cafes, KFC fast food restaurants in Estonia, IceCafe ice cream cafes, and Baltic Film Distribution. Through other companies, UP Invest also owns news agency BNS.
Eversheds Sutherland did not reply to our inquiries on the deal.
Editor's Note: After this article was published Derling Primus announced that it had advised the shareholders of the Piano Group on the deal, and that the deal had successfully closed following its approval by the Estonian Competition Authority. The Derling Primus team included Partners Hannes Vallikivi and Rolan Jankelevitsh and Associates Kaisa Uksik and Katliin Lember.
