Ellex Transaction Radar 2024: Estonian transaction market was unexpectedly sluggish in the second half of the year
Ellex Transaction Radar summarises the most relevant transaction market trends in 2024 in Estonia. The number of transactions in Estonia increased from 137 to 173 over the past year, but Latvia took the lead in terms of the number of first issues in the Baltic stock market.
In 2024, a total of 173 transactions were registered in Estonia, divided as follows:
- 67 venture capital and technology transactions;
- 13 major real estate transactions;
- 7 issues (including OTC issues);
- 86 traditional M&A transactions.
The total number of transactions in the second half of the year was 78, 49 in the third quarter and 29 in the fourth.
Although the last quarter showed a big decrease, the total result was still even better than in 2022 with 77 transactions. Surprisingly, however, there were no public offerings of shares in Estonia this year, Nasdaq Tallinn Stock Exchange did not welcome any new issuers either, giving the lead to our neighbour Latvia.
According to Risto Vahimets, partner at Ellex in Estonia, energytech remained the hottest sector in Estonia in terms of transactions. There were as many as 12 fundraisings of energy technology companies throughout the year. “Other exciting sectors to highlight are the defence industry technology sector and companies like Wayren, Frankenburg, TechSecIntel, SensusQ and medical technology with 9 funding rounds in 2024,” Vahimets added.
Partner Sven Papp noted that foreign capital interest in Estonia remained small in 2024 and this opened up many possibilities for local capital which it also took advantage of. “For example, the acquisition of the Kristiine Keskus shopping centre from Citycon or the buyout of Technopolis by Mainor Ülemiste as well as the buyout of the Trev 2 from the Vinci Group by the Trev 2 management,” said Papp.
According to Partner Gerli Kivisoo, optimists are calling 2024 the year of bonds. “The main instrument offered on all three Baltic public markets was the bond and for understandable reasons – the interest rates are favourable for the bond market. This included two transactions that are worth highlighting – the public offer of the green bonds of Liven and Eesti Energia’s hybrid bond issue. However, in terms of public offerings of shares, we ended up with zero, so Latvia got ahead of us”, said Kivisoo.
The analysis forecasts a moderate growth in the Estonian transaction market and increased investor interest by 2025.
Ellex Transaction Radar is published twice a year, shortly after the end of each half-year, analysing the background and reasons for major transactions in Estonia and forecasting possible developments in the upcoming periods.
