BaltCap, the leading private equity and venture capital firm in the Baltics, has signed an 1.5m EUR investment in PostService Group, the leading Latvian private postal operator and developer of automated last mile delivery solutions.

PostService Group is the largest privately-owned postal operator in Latvia and the market leader of unaddressed mail. With forty “Mana Pasta Stacija” parcel delivery and shipment terminals in all largest cities, PostService Group is the leading operator of automated parcel delivery and shipment terminals. In addition, the Group develops and exports automated parcel terminals to satisfy the needs of other postal operators and courier companies as well as companies from other industries where parcel deliveries are crucial.

“As the amount of online purchases grows rapidly, so does the demand for convenient and effective delivery of goods purchased online. With more than ten years of experience in the postal industry, PostService Group has excellent growth potential – not only in the local postal and parcel delivery market but also in the export markets as a developer of automated last mile delivery solutions. We are excited about being able to support the experienced team of PostService Group on the way to achieving their goals,” said Janis Pranevics, Associate Director at BaltCap.

“We have ambitious plans for the Latvian postal and courier market and we also aim to bring our export business to a whole new level,” said Nadezda Razumova, owner and Chairwoman of the Management Board at PostService Group.

“I believe that synergy with BaltCap will yield good results in the near future and together we will create a success story for both companies. Experience from our co-operation, which so far has been relatively short but intense and valuable, confirms that,” she added.

BaltCap Latvia Venture Capital Fund’s investment in PostService Group comprises commitments from private investors as well as from the EU-sponsored JEREMIE programme which is administered by the Latvian Guarantee Agency. Klavs Vasks, Chairman of the Board at LGA marked: „Companies with high growth and export potential like PostService Group are one of the priorities for state support.”

Further information:

Janis Pranevics    

Associate Director

Baltcap

Phone: + 371 28376034

E-mail: janis.pranevics@baltcap.com

Nadezda Razumova

Chairman of the Board

PostService Group

Phone: +371 29222584

E-mail: nadja@postservice.lv

BaltCap, the leading private equity and venture capital firm in the Baltics, has invested 800,000 euros in Amateks – producer of metal components and complementary parts. This is already the fourth investment this year which has been performed by BaltCap with private and European Structural funds financing. It is expected that investment will be used for production expansion and modernization.

„Amateks is a good example that high quality production combined with a strict observance of the delivery dates and responsiveness to customer needs are important prerequisites for attracting international customers. The company’s hallmark in the last ten years is successful collaboration with global companies such as Schneider Electric, CERTEX, Concentric AB and Plockmatic,” says the Investment  Director of BaltCap Astra Neimane.

Ivars Golsts, the Director of the Latvian Guarantee Agency that oversees the Holding Fund resources used partly for this investment, commends that “BaltCap continues to make investments that contribute to the modernization of Latvian companies and growth of export capacity.”

Explaining the investment decision of BaltCap, Astra Neimane indicates that experience of the company’s management team, accumulated over nearly thirty years of work in the industry, was a crucial factor. The investment will extend Amateks’ product range and allow rapid growth of revenues, fueled both by servicing existing clients and working on a attracting new ones.

“With venture capital funding, we plan to expand and modernize our manufacturing facilities to meet the evolving needs of our existing customers and to attract new global customers. In addition, we are satisfied that BaltCap will participate not only with money but also with serious management experience and knowledge, as well as their extensive international contact network, “said Chairman of the Board and owner of Amateks, Aivars Gudakovskis.

Supervisory Board of Amateks will also be strengthened with an addition of an experienced industry professional, Hanzas Elektronika vice president Alvis Vagulis. Previously he led the Lexel Fabrika, a subsidiary of Schneider Electric in Latvia.

Amateks is a metalworking company that offers lathing, milling and welding services using high precision and effective equipment. Last year the company worked with a turnover of one million euros.

Further information:

Astra Neimane   

Investment director

Baltcap

Phone: + 371 29116680

E-mail: astra.neimane@baltcap.com

Aivars Gudakovskis

Chairman of the Board

Amateks

Phone: +371 29492754

E-mail: aivars.gudakovskis@amateks.lv

The leading venture capital company in the Baltic States BaltCap has agreed with the garden furniture production company EKJU on investment in amount of 1.5 million euros. It is expected that the investment will be made in modernization of the company’s production unit and working capital.

“Already now 95% of company’s production is being exported. With the management of the company we have agreed that EKJU needs to strengthen its positions and in medium term it must become one of the leading European companies in its segment. The goal is ambitious enough but with our business knowledge and financing we are sure that we can achieve it,” says Investment Director of BaltCap Peteris Treimanis.

Now EKJU is exporting its production to Great Britain, Denmark, France, Sweden, Norway, Ireland, Spain and the Netherlands.

Peteris Treimanis believes that in Latvia there are all preconditions for the company to be among leaders in Europe. “Latvian timber is a raw material of good quality and available for production; we have also highly-skilled employees who can produce an offer meeting the needs of the export market,” says Peteris Treimanis.

“By attracting a venture capital company to our development, we acquire not only financing but also serious experience in the management of a production company, as well as valuable international contacts,” explains the Head of EKJU Juris Skolins commenting on the company’s development plans.

The BaltCap investment project is being implemented with investment of private investors and financing of European Union structural funds administered by the Latvian Guarantee Agency. Director of the LGA Ivars Golsts emphasises that investment in an exporting company with ambitious development plans is an excellent example of effective use of state aid. Up to now, BaltCap has attracted financing for 7 investment projects within the framework of the state supported programme.

SIA EKJU is the biggest garden furniture producer in the Baltic States employing more than 180 people. The administrative office of the company is in Riga but production units are in Cesis district, Drebesi parish. In 2011 the company’s turnover was 6.8 million euros which is 13% more than a year before that.

Further information:

Peteris Treimanis

Investment Director

Phone +371 29122716

E-mail: peteris.treimanis@baltcap.com

BaltCap, the leading private equity and venture capital investor in the Baltic States invests EUR 0.5 m into Latvian business “Vendon” which produces monitoring systems and solutions for vending machines.

Vendon is a draugiem.lv group company supplying international and local vending machines with Latvian-produced equipment and solutions with support of telemetry systems. This allows to follow capital and product flow in the machines as well as efficiently receive information about damages or other technical problems, thus dramatically optimizing human resources and transportation-related losses.

“We’re proud to be one of the few in the world who have developed such solutions which are already highly appreciated and recognized by our current customers. All processes – programming and equipment production – happen in Latvia, thus adding value to local economy. This investment will offer us faster development, providing new employment vacancies and organizing active international selling. I’m sure that we’ll create a new export success story for Latvia,” says Vendon’s Sales Director in Europe Georges A. Cywie.

BaltCap’s financing is made up of private investor contributions as well as European Union Structural Funds money which is administered by the Latvian Guarantee Agency.

“We are truly delighted by the opportunity to support experienced professionals from the Vendon team in their ambitious plans. Currently, these types of solutions are not extensively developed in Europe. That’s why we belive that Vendon, with their user-friendly solutions and experienced team will help to create effective telemetry solutions,” declares Martins Jaunarajs from BaltCap.

“State-supported investments in innovative and quickly growing companies such as Vendon are our priority. We foresee true business success and a return on investment in the future. By bringing together Vendon and Baltcap professionals’ knowledge, it will certainly succeed,” commented Ivars Golsts, director of the Latvian Guarantee Agency.

Further information:

Mārtiņš Jaunarājs

Investment Director

BaltCap

Phone +371 2924 3056

E-mail: martins.jaunarajs@baltcap.com

Lithuania SME Fund managed by BaltCap, the largest private equity and venture capital investor in the Baltic countries, has invested in Impuls LTU, operator of the leading Lithuanian health and fitness club chain.  

With 8 gyms in Lithuania’s main towns, Impuls LTU will be the largest health club chain in the country. Impuls LTU operates only large format clubs the size of which ranges from 2000 sq. meters to 6600 sq. meters. Impuls clubs offer their clients main workout and cardio areas, group exercise classes and pools as well as additional products and services. The investment should support an aggressive expansion of the chain, both organic and through add-on acquisitions.

“We are very excited about our investment in Impuls LTU” said Kornelijus Celutka, Investment Director at BaltCap. “Health club market in the region is poised to grow strongly in medium term, fuelled by recovering purchasing power and increasing people’s awareness of their health, fitness and regular exercise. Fitness club industry penetration in Lithuania is still several times lower than EU average of 8%. As a clear market leader in Lithuania, Impuls has built a solid platform for expanding the chain locally and looking for growth opportunities abroad.”

Graham Cope, Head of Region in European Investment Fund, stated: “Investment into Impuls LTU is the second transaction by BaltCap’s Lithuania SME Fund established with our cornerstone investment from EIF. This investment illustrates again that government support of the JEREMIE Holding Fund activities is delivering the right impact to vibrant companies with strong prospects for the future.”

Lithuania SME Fund is a growth capital fund organized by BaltCap in 2010 as part of the JEREMIE initiative in Lithuania. JEREMIE Holding Fund in Lithuania managed by EIF is financed from the EU Structural Funds under 2007-2013 Economic Growth Operational Programme. Total size of Lithuania SME Fund is EUR 20 million, EUR 14 million of which is provided by JEREMIE Holding Fund and EUR 6 million by leading Baltic financial institutions, including SEB Venture Capital, asset management companies of LHV, Swedbank and DnB. The Fund provides growth equity financing for small- and medium-sized enterprises based in Lithuania up to EUR 3 million per company.

This is the second investment by Lithuania SME Fund in the country in 2011. Earlier this year, the fund has invested into Ygle, building engineering system solution and service provider.

For more information:

Kornelijus Čelutka

Investment Director

BaltCap
Tel.: +370 5 254 6713

E-mail: kornelijus.celutka@baltcap.com

BaltCap, the leading private equity and venture capital investor in the Baltic States, has provided financing for start-up liquid crystal display production company EUROLCDS. The aim of EUROLCDS is to create the specialised liquid crystal display production company with global customer base. This investment has been completed within the EU Structural Fund’s co-financed JEREMIE initiative managed by the European Investment Fund in Latvia.

The new enterprise based its success on experienced entrepreneurs team as well as on co-owner’s – LC-TEC AB (Sweden) – long term experience and contacts in production and R&D of liquid crystal displays. The potential customers are industrial and medicine equipment producers and sellers of EU countries, USA and Japan that use liquid crystal displays elements as parts for their products. As most demanded liquid crystal display application today, stereoscopic and volumetric 3D video projection equipment can be mentioned.

“We are delighted for the opportunity to finance the development of a new enterprise, competitive advantage of which is based on world class technology, patented products and new product development opportunity. We are also happy to provide new vacancies in global sales based company and to create additional motivation for young students to study engineering sciences,” said Peteris Treimanis, Investment Director at BaltCap.

As an answer to the question about choosing Latvia as the target country and BaltCap as co-operation partner, Ǻke Hornell, CEO of the company stated: “My main reason for choosing Latvia for this establishment was the good experience from starting the electronics manufacturing business, Hansa Electronics. In this venture we have had a good co-operation with Baltcap and it was natural to seek contact with Baltcap also for the new LCD venture.”

“Decision to establish the company in Latvia is a significant step for developing know-how based economy since it creates an opportunity for engineers’ intelligence to participate in one of the world’s hi-tech development streams. It is also very important for our potential customers that we are part of European Union and able to provide security on both -intellectual property and patented technology solutions,” added Ilmars Osmanis, Board Member of EUROLCDS.

Further information:

Peteris Treimanis

Investment Director

BaltCap

Phone +371 29122716

E-mail: peteris.treimanis@baltcap.com

www.baltcap.com

Ilmars Osmanis

Member of the Board

EUROLCDS

Phone +371 29203083