Eco Baltia, the largest environmental resource management and recycling company in the Baltics, managed by INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund, the leading private equity fund in the Baltic States, plans to acquire Eko Osta, Latvia’s leading collection and recycling company for environmentally harmful and hazardous waste. The purchase agreement concluded by the parties, which requires merger authorisation from the Latvian Competition Council, provides for the acquisition of 100% of the shares in Eko Osta.
Andrejs Laškovs, the current shareholder of Eko Osta: “Eko Osta has been providing specific waste management and other services in Latvia for more than 20 years. This requires a special approach and precision in all company processes, ensuring that services are delivered to the highest environmental standards and to an excellent quality. As the environmental management sector develops not only nationally, but also internationally, we see great potential for growth in Eco Baltia’s portfolio of companies. This will benefit for both, the partners, customers and employees of Eko Osta, as well as the country as a whole, by contributing to a comprehensive reduction of negative environmental impacts.”
Mr Māris Simanovičs, Chairman of the Board of Eco Baltia: “In recent years, we have significantly expanded Eco Baltia’s areas of activity, strengthening our market position internationally as a full-cycle environmental resource manager. The inclusion of the environmentally harmful and hazardous waste collection and recycling company in the Eco Baltia Group is a significant step towards even faster development, covering an even more diverse waste stream to be recycled.
The deal will ensure better collection and circulation of waste in segments where compliance with national standards has so far been difficult. This will benefit both the customers of the group company Latvijas Zaļais punkts in terms of meeting their environmentally harmful waste collection targets, and the country as a whole in meeting its recycling targets more successfully.”
Jānis Aizbalts, Head of Environmental Management, Eco Baltia Group: “Eco Baltia has experienced rapid development in the environmental sector in recent years. This included covering larger waste management regions and types of materials, as well as the development of recycled materials sorting in Latvia and Lithuania. Last year, we also expanded into urban environmental management, where the Group’s environmental company Eco Baltia vide has more than a decade of experience. The addition of Eko Osta to Eco Baltia’s existing portfolio allows us to take even greater steps to promote the circular economy in the country, while strengthening our market position as a full-cycle waste management and recycling group.”
Eko Osta is engaged in the collection, transportation by floating and land vehicles, treatment and recycling of petroleum-contaminated water and soil, recycled lubricating oils, organic solvents, used oil filters and tyres, as well as geological, hydrogeological, geoecological and geotechnical research, environmental quality monitoring and environmental remediation. Eko Osta employs around 70 people and had a turnover of EUR 7.79 million in 2023.
Jānis Aizbalts, Head of Environmental Management, Eco Baltia Group: “Eco Baltia has experienced rapid development in the environmental sector in recent years. This included covering larger waste management regions and types of materials, as well as the development of recycled materials sorting in Latvia and Lithuania. Last year, we also expanded into urban environmental management, where the Group’s environmental company Eco Baltia vide has more than a decade of experience. The addition of Eko Osta to Eco Baltia’s existing portfolio allows us to take even greater steps to promote the circular economy in the country, while strengthening our market position as a full-cycle waste management and recycling group.”
The acquisition of the company is planned to be carried out through Eco Baltia’s subsidiary Latvijas Zaļais punkts. Financing of the transaction is planned by attracting bank funding, and the parties have agreed not to disclose the amount of the transaction publicly.
About INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund
With a size of EUR 165 million, the INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund is the leading equity fund in the Baltics. The European Investment Fund (EIF) is its anchor investor.
The EIF, which is a part of the European Investment Bank, has committed EUR 30 million with the support of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (a key element of the Investment Plan for Europe, or the Junker Plan) whilst also allocating resources from the Baltic Innovation Fund, a “fund of funds” initiative developed in cooperation with the governments of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The initiative aims to increase capital investment in high-growth potential small and medium-sized enterprises in the Baltics.
The fund is focused on the Baltic countries and neighbouring regions including Poland, the Nordics, and Central Europe. The INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund has formed a diversified portfolio of nine companies. The fund has invested in companies to date, focusing on sectors including food processing, healthcare, medical rehabilitation, civil engineering, plastic recycling, environmental resource management, veterinary services, and the manufacturing of cosmetics and hygiene products.
The fund is managed by INVL Asset Management, the leading alternative asset manager in the Baltic States, which is part of the Invalda INVL Group, operating for more than 30 years. The group’s companies manage more than EUR 1 billion of assets across multiple asset classes including private equity, forests and agricultural land, renewable energy, real estate as well as private debt. The group’s scope of activities also includes family office services in Lithuania and Latvia, management of pension funds in Latvia, and investments in global third-party funds.
About Eco Baltia
Eco Baltia group is the largest environmental and waste management group in the Baltics, providing the full-cycle waste management solutions from waste collection and sorting to secondary raw material logistics, wholesale and raw material processing as well as PET and PE/PP plastics recycling.
Eco Baltia group has closed 2022 with its historically highest consolidated turnover of EUR 210 million, representing a 75% increase compared to 2021. Total combined sales revenue (pro-forma) in 2022 amounted to 240.5 million euro.
The group companies employ around 2,300 employees in Latvia, Lithuania, and Czech Republic. Its leading companies are PET Baltija, Eco Baltia vide, Latvijas Zaļais punkts, Nordic Plast, JUMIS, Pilsētas Eko Serviss, Czech TESIL Fibres and Lithuania-based Ecoservice. In November 2023, Eco Baltia group and INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund acquired a 70% stake in Metal-Plast, the largest recycler of PVC window and door profiles in Poland (Eco Baltia and INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund own 38.5% and 31.5% of Metal-Plast, respectively).
Shareholders of Eco Baltia are private equity fund INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund (52.81%), the European Bank for the Reconstruction and Development (30.51%) and Māris Simanovičs (16.68%).
About Eko Osta
Eko Osta is a waste manager and recycler of environmentally harmful and hazardous waste. The company was registered in 1999 and its service portfolio consists of collection, transportation (floating vehicles, land vehicles), treatment and recycling of petroleum contaminated waters and soil, recycled lubricating oils, organic solvents, collection and transportation of used tyres, geological, hydrogeological, geoecological and geotechnical surveys and other services.
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