Private Equity Overview

The SORAINEN Private Equity Practice advises private equity houses and investors on fund formation, investments, portfolio management, investment restructuring, exits and other activities in the Baltic States and Belarus. With in-depth knowledge of the private equity industry, SORAINEN lawyers provide tailored and efficient advice to the private equity clients.

The firm advises on structuring, forming and raising private equity funds with a focus on the Baltics and Belarus. SORAINEN also assists private equity funds and their management companies on regulatory aspects and in managing their portfolios and investee companies.

SORAINEN is constantly involved in all types of private equity transactions in various industries. The firm’s Private Equity Practice has extensive experience in leveraged buyouts, management buyouts and buy-ins, venture capital (seed, start-up, growth capital) investments, angel investments and mezzanine financing. As to venture capital, the team supports two start-up accelerators in Estonia: Startup Wise Guys and GameFounders. With help from the firm’s mergers and acquisitions (M&A), finance, tax, intellectual property and information technology, competition and other specialists, the practice is ready to assist with all aspects of private equity transactions. Over the past several years, the firm’s lawyers have advised a number of regional and international private equity players on many deals in the region (from legal due diligence, investment structuring, tax advice and merger control assistance to post-closing advice). SORAINEN also advises private equity investors on planning and implementing exits (through sale, listing or private placement).

As part of the only truly integrated regional law firm, the SORAINEN Private Equity Practice of over 20 lawyers has the best capacity to advise on regional transactions in the Baltics and Belarus. This substantially reduces the time, energy and other resources required for structuring and managing regional projects.

SORAINEN is recommended for its Private Equity Practice by international directories such as International Financial Law Review, The Legal 500 and Chambers Europe (“Clients describe a team of 'adept negotiators, who know the market like the back of their hands'.”).

At the initiative of SORAINEN, the five largest Baltic law firms and alliances authored the first-of-its-kind Baltic M&A Deal Points Study in 2009, repeating it in 2011. In 2010, a similar study was organised in Belarus together with five local leading law firms – the first Belarusian M&A Deal Points Study and also the first of its kind in the CIS countries. Since 2011, SORAINEN prepares the annual M&A and Private Equity Baltic and Belarus Transaction Guide, reporting on the latest M&A and private equity developments in the region.

SORAINEN offers expertise in all key private equity activities in the Baltic States and Belarus, including:

• forming, raising and operating funds;
• structuring investments;
• due diligence;
• negotiations at all stages;
• shareholder agreements and share options;
• service agreements and executive compensation;
• ongoing portfolio assistance;
• exits.