Operail's freight and repairs businesses are for sale along with assets, licenses, contracts, employees, plus the Operail brand itself.

Merle Kurvits, board member at AS Operail, said: "We approach privatization with a positive outlook."

"The buyer will acquire a highly competent operational company with good future potential – strategic opportunities for expansion and profit generation," Kurvits continued, via a press release.

"The past years have been challenging for the rail sector and for the economy. Whereas overall freight volume on the Estonian railway fell by 39 percent last year, Operail's volumes fell by almost 70 percent since, unlike our competitors, Operail ceased freight transportation to and from Russia and Belarus."

"Nevertheless, we have maintained the largest market share in freight transportation on the Estonian railways," she added.

A two-stage auction will be conducted to find a buyer, starting today, Friday, June 7.

Interested parties must provide proof of that interest and of their capability of potentially purchasing the assets, plus also sign a non-disclosure agreement.

In the first phase, potential buyers can review the initial information package and submit non-binding offers.

Investors who qualify for the second phase will be provided additional information, enabling them to submit binding offers, Operail says.

The government on Thursday approved a Ministry of Climate proposal to initiate a public auction to privatize all business operations of Estonian state-owned company AS Operail.

The sales process is being conducted by the investment banking unit at Estonian bank LHV Pank, while law firm Ellex Raidla is carrying out the corporate law aspects.

Operail's current owner, supervisory board, management board, and staff may not participate in conducting the auction.

Contact details for interested parties are available in the sales notice published on Operail's website.

AS Operail is wholly owned by the Estonian state.

In 2021, the state as owner opted to divest the firm of business segments which are not strategically necessary for the state – namely, wagon leasing and freight transportation in Finland.

This process was completed by the beginning of 2023, heightened by the Russian invasion of Ukraine from February 2022 and the accompanying need for the Estonian state and government to avoid doing business with the Russian Federation.

From that point, Operail continued to focus on freight transport and rolling stock maintenance and repair inside Estonia.

The government informed the public of the plan to privatize the remaining business segments of Operail in February this year.

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