Eversheds Sutherland Ots & Co has advised Apax Partners and Media Investments & Holding OU on the acquisition of the Baltic Classifieds Group, a portfolio of online classified advertising platforms in the Baltics. The transaction is expected to close by July 2019.
The Baltic Classifieds Group operates the Autoplius.lt, Aruodas.lt, Skelbiu.lt, CVBankas.lt, KV.ee, City24.ee, City24.lv, Osta.ee, and Soov.ee online classifieds platforms for automotive, real estate, jobs, and general merchandise. The company operates in Lithuania through Diginet LTU and its portals generate more than 50 million monthly visits.
Eversheds Sutherland Ots & Co’s team included Managing Partner Maivi Ots, Partner Risto Ruutel, Counsel Marten Amjarv, and Lawyers Erika Tuvike and Maarja Junti.
Eversheds Sutherland Ots & Co did not reply to our inquiry on the matter.
Editor's Note: After this article was published Cobalt announced that it had also advised Apax Partners on the deal. According to the firm, "the client was advised by Cobalt's pan-Baltic team on all aspects of the transaction, including carrying out the legal due diligence, help with the transaction documents, as well as assisting the client in getting a merger clearance for the acquisition."
The Cobalt team was led, in Estonia, by Partner Martin Simovart and Specialist Counsel Ott Aava, supported by Associate Liina Saaremets. They were assisted by Latvia-based Partner Guntars Zīle and Senior Associate Elīna Locmele and Managing Partner Irmantas Norkus and Senior Associates Inga Mazvilaite and Justinas Kondratas from Lithuania. According to the firm, "the project also required a significant contribution by our Competition Team’s Partner Elo Tamm, Specialist Counsel Elena Hansov, and Associate Marit Martens, all in Estonia, and Partner Rasa Zasciurinskaite and Senior Associate Paulius Bartkus in Lithuania.".
