Sorainen and Brandl & Talos have advised investment company Novalpina on the public offer by its Odyssey Europe AS subsidiary to acquire all the shares in the listed Estonian gaming group Olympic Entertainment Group, following which — assuming shareholder approval — Odyssey will delist OEG from the Nasdaq Tallinn Stock Exchange, then merge the two companies.
The two founders and major shareholders of OEG, Armin Karu and Jaan Korpusov, committed to tender their shares, which represent 64% of total OEG shares outstanding, in the voluntary takeover offer. The offer will be for EUR 1.90 in cash per share. The cash offer is expected to be published on April 4, 2018 and values OEG at some EUR 288 million.
OEG, along with its subsidiaries, is a provider of gaming services in the Baltic States and also operates casinos in Slovakia, Italy, and Malta. As of September 2017, the group had a total of 117 casinos and 28 betting points.
Novalpina Capital is a European private equity firm that focuses on making control equity investments in middle market companies operating throughout Europe. The firm was established in 2017 by three former senior executives of the European operations of leading global private equity investment firms.
The Sorainen team consisted of Partner Pekka Puolakka and Senior Associate Cathriin Torop from Estonia, Senior Associate Valts Nerets from Latvia, Senior Associate Jurgita Nikita, and Associates Sidas Sokolovas and Urte Armonaite from Lithuania.
Editor's Note: After this article was published, Weil, Gotshal & Manges announced that it also advised financial investor Novalpina Capital in its voluntary takeover offer for Tallinn-based listed Olympic Entertainment Group AS. Ellex Raidla announced it advised Hansa Assets OU and Hendaya Invest OU on the sale of Olympic Entertainment Group AS to Odyssey Europe. And Cobalt announced it advised Morgan Stanley financing the acquisition by Odyssey Europe.
The Weil team was led by Partner Gerhard Schmidt and included Partners Stephan Grauke, Barbara Jagersberger, and Tobias Geerling, Counsel Heiner Drueke, and Associates Manuel-Peter Fringer, Ansgar Wimber, Alexander Pfefferler, Daniel Zhu, Julian Schwanebeck, and Benjamin Rapp. The Weil team also included Frankfurt Partner Wolfram Distler, and London Partner Patrick Bright, supported by Associates Dorian Legel, Julia Schum, Nick Krendel, Antony Serban, Alastair McVeigh, Bhavesh Madia, and Feng Cai.
The Ellex Raidla team consisted of Partners Gerli Kilusk, Ermo Kosk, and Associate Kerstin Jurgenson.
The Cobalt team consisted of Partners Marina Kotkas and Kristel Raidla-Talur, Senior associate Kristjan Kotkas, and Associate Greete-Kristiine Kuru from the Estonian office, as well as Counsel Edgars Lodzins from the Latvian office, and Partner Akvile Bosaite from the Lithuanian office.
