OREANDA-NEWS. December 02, 2014. SORAINEN Estonia advised Semler Baltic, a subsidiary of Danish automotive group Semler Gruppen, on acquiring Eesti Talleks’s 50% stake in the Adole Invest group. Semler Baltic will become the sole shareholder of Adole Invest group, whose companies are official sole dealers of Skoda and Porsche vehicles in Estonia.

“Skoda vehicles have been among the most popular in Estonia for years and the development of Porsche business since 2012 has been rather successful,” notes Jens Bjerrisgaard, CEO of Semler Gruppen. “We look forward to continuing the development of our Skoda sales organisation as well as meeting the demand for Porsche vehicles, for which Auto 100 is the exclusive importer and dealer in Estonia.”

The CEO of Adole Invest group, Jussi Parnpuu, commented that during the past five years Skoda has been among the top three brands in Estonia: it was the market leader in 2011 and has a strong future claim to market leadership. Porsche has established itself as a serious player in the Estonian sports and luxury car market. Adole group has been the sole official Porsche dealer in Estonia since 2012.

“We have been importing and selling Skoda vehicles since 2005 in a joint venture with Semler Gruppen, and since 2012 we have been exclusive importers and dealers of Porsche vehicles in Estonia,” explains Taavi Toots, CEO of Eesti Talleks. “Today we have reached an agreement to divest our share, which enables Eesti Talleks to focus on our strategic field of real estate development.”

Adole Invest group consists of Auto 100 and Skoda dealerships in Tallinn and Harju county, including Auto 100 Tallinn, Sko Motors and Merrillman/A+ car rental, the rental and fleet management company. The group has three showrooms and its companies employ around 130 people. The group also sells Lotus and Lamborghini vehicles in Estonia as the official dealer for both brands in the Baltics and Finland.

Semler Gruppen is the largest group in the Danish automotive industry with nearly 100 years of experience in the import and sale of cars. Semler Group handles the import and sale of Volkswagen Group brands in Denmark and has subsidiaries in Iceland and Estonia.

SORAINEN has advised Semler during all phases of the transaction, including due diligence, drafting and negotiating the transaction documents. The SORAINEN team, led by partner Toomas Prangli and senior associate Piret Lappert, also included specialist counsel Urmas Volens and associates Juulika Aavik and Britta Park.