Ellex has advised OP Financial Group on its sale of all shares of non-life insurance company Seesam Insurance AS to Vienna Insurance Group. Skrastins & Dzenis in Latvia, Tark in Estonia, and Motieka & Audzevicius in Lithuania advised the Vienna Insurance Group on the acquisition.
The parties signed the share sale and purchase agreement on December 18 2017, although the transaction remains subject to approval by the local regulatory authorities.
Seesam was founded in 1991 in Estonia and has offices in all three Baltic countries. It has over 200,000 customers and sells its non-life products across all distribution channels. In 2016 the company reported gross written premiums of around EUR 60 million, and currently has 335 employees.
Seesam’s parent undertaking, OP Financial Group, is Finland’s largest financial services group. OP offers banking, asset management, and insurance services to companies and private persons. The OP Group includes 180 member-banks, over 4 million clients, and nearly 12,000 employees, and the total assets of the Group exceed EUR 80 billion.
Vienna Insurance Group, which is almost 200 years old, has about 50 group companies in 25 countries and a staff of about 25,000 employees. Its shares are listed on the Vienna and Prague Stock Exchanges.
The Ellex Raidla team in Estonia was led by Partner Sven Papp, supported by Senior Associates Gerda Liik and Martin Maesalu. The Ellex Klavins team in Latvia was led by Senior Associates Sarmis Spilbergs and Martins Gailis, with the help of Associate Kristiana Matuzevica. The Ellex Valiunas team in Lithuana was led by Partner Dovile Burgiene, supported by Partner Marius Juonys and Senior Associates Lina Zolyne, Ilona Janciauskaite, and Alina Makovska.
The Tark team in Estonia advising the Vienna Insurance Group was led by Partners Hannes Kuun and Tanel Tark and included Partners Allar Aru and Marit Savi and Senior Associate Tanel Kuun.
The Motieka & Audzevicius team in Lithuania included Partner Giedrius Kolesnikovas and Associates Michail Parchimovic, Sigita Adomaityte, Rokas Jankus, and Martynas Bendikas.
