Fortum sells majority stake in Eesti Gaas
Finnish energy group Fortum plans to sell its 51.4% stake in Estonia's gas utility Eesti Gaas to Trilini Energy OÜ, a company partially owned by investment holding Infortar.
"Yes, we've just signed the purchase-sale agreement," Ain Hanschmidt, a member of the board of Trilini Energy OÜ and head of Infortar, told the Baltic News Service on Tuesday.
The deal has to be approved by the competition authorities of Estonia and Finland, Fortum told the stock exchange. The deal will be concluded in the first half of 2016. The price of the transaction wouldn't be disclosed according to the agreement, and the expected positive effect on the first half-year results of Fortum would be small.
Fortum announced on 1 July 2014 that it was planning to sell its stake in Eesti Gaas.
Other major owners of Eesti Gaas are the Russian gas giant Gazprom (37%) and Itera Latvija (10%).
Trilini Energy OÜ is led by the chairman of the supervisory board of Eesti Gaas, Aarne Saar. It also has connections with businessmen Ain Hanschmidt and Even Tudeberg. Other partners of the company include Eesti Gaas supervisory board member and head of Itera Latvija Juris Savickis, and transit businessman Viktor Golinski, who is also a minor shareholder in Eesti Gaas.
Editor: Editor: Dario Cavegn