Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Good for Business, Internet, Markets and Companies, Technology, Telecomunications

The companies of SMN in Latvia and Lithuania will be acquired by the Baltic private equity firm Livonia Partners together with management. 

The acquisition price in the transaction concluded by Elisa is 28 mln euros, which will be paid in cash. The completion of the transaction is subject to certain conditions, including approvals by the competition authorities in Finland and Estonia, and the transaction is expected to be completed by May 1, 2017.

Elisa said the transaction has no impact on Elisa's financial guidance for this year, and it fulfills Elisa's strategy to strengthen its market position in the Finnish and Estonian markets.

"With this transaction, we strengthen our Corporate Customers segment in the design, construction and maintenance of secure customer-oriented network solutions. The increasingly digital environments of our customers require continuously faster reactions to different situations. We will significantly increase this capability with Santa Monica Network's solutions and expertise," said Jorma Niemela, vice president at Elisa.

"By combining the top expertise of our companies, we can offer superior expertise on the Finnish scale. Together, we are able to provide our customers with new services and even broader solutions in the area of secure corporate networks. Our aim is to offer unique customer experiences, and we are now able to provide end-to-end communications from a single point," said Kai Vuokko, managing director of SMN.  

In 2016, the revenue of the acquired companies totaled approximately 44 mln euros and EBIT approximately 3 mln euros. Santa Monica Networks employs 73 people in Finland and 36 in Estonia.

The price of the transaction concerning the Latvian and Lithuanian operations of SMN is not public. The transaction will give Livonia a controlling stake in the Lithuanian and Latvian operations of Santa Monica Networks, with management retaining a significant stake.

The investment in SMN is the third investment for Livonia Partners Fund I, whose strategy is to invest in medium-sized companies in the Baltics that are well-managed and growing. The fund acquired Estonia-based sauna manufacturer Ha Serv in February last year, and in October invested in the Estonian home and gardening retail brand Hortes.

SMN had a revenue of 23.4 mln euros in Latvia and Lithuania in 2016, and it employed 52 people in these countries.

SMN provides solutions to large telecommunication, IT and media companies, public sector organizations, financial institutions and industrial companies, among others. The company works with several leading global networking, data center and security infrastructure vendors, such as Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Juniper Networks.