The annual Baltic M&A and Private Equity Forum will take place in Riga on 6th of November 2019.
The Baltic M&A and Private Equity Forum has become the main networking event for the Baltic M&A industry and market participants interested in the region.We welcome representatives of private equity and venture capital funds and investment banking, consultants, lawyers, investors, and other representatives of the financial sector, as well as interested business executives and owners.
The forum is organised by Sorainen and the Latvian business daily Dienas Bizness, in partnership with the Baltic business dailies Verslo žinios (Lithuania) and Äripäev (Estonia), the Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian Private Equity and Venture Capital Associations.
DATE AND VENUE: 6th of November | VEF Kvartāla kamerzāle, Ieriķu Street 5A, Riga
TARGET AUDIENCE: Private equity and venture capital funds, investment bankers, advisers and consultants, company managers and shareholders.
LANGUAGE: English
PARTICIPATION FEE
8:30 – 9:00 Registration and morning coffee
9:10 – 9:30 THE BALTIC PRIVATE EQUITY MARKET – KEY DEVELOPMENTS, EIF PERSPECTIVE
-Pier Luigi Gilibert, European Investment Fund
-Pablo Millán Cantero, European Investment Fund
9:30 – 10:10 DISCUSSING TOPICAL ISSUES IN THE BALTIC PE AND VENTURE CAPITAL INDUSTRY
-Ruta J. Laukien, GrayBella Capital
-Kristīne Bērziņa, Livonia Partners
-Šarūnas Alekna, BaltCap
-Sille Pettai, SmartCap
10:10 – 10:30 EXPLORING IMPORTANT TRANSACTIONS IN THE BALTIC MARKET. A 5-year 200 million bond issue
–Imants Jansons, AirBaltic
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee break
11:00 – 11:40 RECENT TROUBLES IN THE BALTIC & NORDIC BANKING SECTOR: HOW DOES THAT AFFECT FINTECH BUSINESSES?
Moderator: Liza Aizupiete, Fintelum
Participants:
-Mārtiņš Šulte, Mintos
-Reinis Bērziņš, Altum
-Andris K. Berziņš, Change Ventures
-Normunds Igolnieks, ZGI Capital
-Jānis Brazovskis, Finance Latvia association
11:40 – 12:20 TECHNOLOGIES: LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN THE TECH MARKET, UNDERSTANDING GLOBAL AND LOCAL IMPACT ON M&A
Ingmārs Pūķis, LMT
Pekka Puolakka, UROS
12:20 – 13:00 JAMIE SUSSKIND, Author of “Future Politics: Living Together in a World Transformed by Tech”, Practising Barrister
13:00 – 14:20 Lunch
14:20 – 14:40 EXPLORING RECENT IMPORTANT TRANSACTIONS IN THE BALTIC MARKET (PART I)
Kristjan Endrikson, Eesti Energia
14:40 – 15:20 COMPANY MANAGEMENT INVOLVEMENT IN M&A: ARE WE GETTING IT RIGHT?
-Lars-George Hedlund, Södra
-Evita Goša, SCHWENK LATVIJA
-Jānis Dzenis, Deloitte Latvia
-Marek Pohla, Kaamos
-Valērija Lieģe, Oaklins M&A Baltics
-Šarūnas Skyrius, Superia
15:20 – 15:50 Coffee break
15:50 – 16:20 A LOOK OUTSIDE THE BOX: INSIGHTS FROM THE GROWING INVESTMENT MARKET IN HEMP/CANNABIS
Stepas Telešius, Co-founder and Board member of Acmegruppe
16:20 – 16:40 EXPLORING RECENT IMPORTANT TRANSACTIONS IN THE BALTIC MARKET (PART II)
Andris Bite, Karavela
16:40 – 17:20 FOR INSPIRATION: SUCCESSFUL TRANSACTIONS & EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Marko Lepik, SIY Certified Teacher, Estonia
17:30 Closing remarks
19:00 European Investment Fund and Sorainen invite all Forum’s guests to share impressions at a networking reception and celebrate milestone transactions at the Annual M&A and Private Equity award ceremony taking place in Imagehouse (Brīvības street 40, Riga)
Note: the agenda may change/ be continuously updated up to the conference.
SPECIAL OFFER!
Use the opportunity to book a room Radisson Blu Latvija Conference & Spa Hotel (Elizabetes Street 55, Riga) at discount via link or by using the code FORUMS.
Marko Lepik
Mindfulness Coach, Founder of EQversity.com, SIY Certified Facilitator
Marko is a corporate coach with a prior background in strategic communication. He is passionate about bringing science-based self-regulation tools to the workplace. After years of experimentation in traditional ways of mind training in Asia, he licensed as a teacher of the EQ-program born at Google.
3 keywords that I want the audience to associate me with:
#mindfulness
#emotionalintelligence
#leadership
Jānis Dzenis
Assistant Director in Financial Advisory, Deloitte Latvia; head of Corporate Finance service line
Janis has more than 10 years of corporate finance experience, working in the UK, the US, Baltic countries, Middle East and continental Europe, leading many interesting projects, such as M&A Lead Advisory, Restructuring, Due Diligence, Integration and Separation, Synergy development and Valuation.
3 keywords that I want the audience to associate me with:
#M&A
#corporatefinance
#restructuring
Marek Pohla
Chairman of the management board of Kaamos Group
Marek joined Kaamos in early 2018, as the first CEO outside the family owning the group. The main target has been to refocus the group´s strategy, expand its business structure, both in core & non-core fields and its activity area. Prior to Kaamos, Marek has more than 15 years of experience in the chemical & sporting goods industries.
3 keywords that I want the audience to associate me with:
#don´tbeafraidtolookfurtherfromyourdoorstep
#M&A
#startup
Stepas Telešius
Co-Founder and Board Member at ACME Grupė, a group of companies that mainly operates in the distribution of IT and consumer electronic products, film production and distribution also actively investing in diverse business projects.
Stepas has over 26 years of experience of starting, developing, transforming and operating various businesses. Also has served on the boards of directors in several different companies.
3 keywords that I want the audience to associate me with:
#investment
#strategy
#leading change
Pekka Puolakka
President of Uros Ltd, CLO of Uros Group
Already years ago Pekka earned the nickname “Firefighter” as he has always been at home in solving complex, time-critical and multidimensional matters in an international environment. Currently, he heads corporate and legal matters as well as transactions at Uros, a world-leading IoT company.
3 keywords that I want the audience to associate me with:
#tech
#acquisitions
#IoT
Evita Goša
Legal Director, Management Board Member of SCHWENK Latvija SIA
Evita is a lawyer, a human rights activist and a diversity management expert. For more than 11 years her life has inextricably been linked to the production of cement, ready-mixed concrete and aggregates, which is much more exciting than it might seem.
3 keywords that I want the audience to associate me with:
#health&safety
#collaboration
#sustainability
Mārtiņš Šulte
Mintos CEO and Co-founder
Mārtiņš Šulte is a Stockholm School of Economics in Riga and INSEAD graduate. Martins is an avid reader and a semi-professional poker player. After gaining experience in investment banking, his entrepreneurial spirit and love for technology lead him to establish Mintos, an award-winning global marketplace for investments in loans.
3 keywords that I want the audience to associate me with:
#growthmindset
#mintospeople
#newassetclass
Andris K. Bērziņš
Managing Partner, Change Ventures
Andris leads the first pan-Baltic seed venture capital fund, focusing on finding and backing ambitious Baltic founders that can build global, scalable businesses. Among his investments is Nordigen, the FinTech startup from Latvia. He has been a leader in the Baltic technology ecosystem for almost a decade, founding startups, serving as a mentor in accelerators, investing as a venture capitalist and co-founding some of the crucial non-profit organizations that hold the ecosystem together. He spent 17 years in the US, UK and Israel serving in C-level roles in two startups that each exited at over $100M in exit value. He holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
3 keywords that I want the audience to associate me with:
#startup
#scalable
#grit
Reinis Bērziņš
Chairman of the Board, Development finance institution ALTUM
Reins inspires the ALTUM team to be passionate and goal-oriented. Under his eager leadership, ALTUM embodies the new model of state capital companies operations – to be sustainable and self-sufficient in attracting funding, to operate according to the best corporate governance principles while also contributing to the development of the financial market of Latvia.
3 keywords that I want the audience to associate me with:
#sustainability
#growth
#responsibility
Jamie Susskind
Author of “Future Politics: Living Together in a World Transformed by Tech”, Practising Barrister
Author, speaker, and a practising barrister. Past Fellow of the Fellow of Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. Studied history and politics at Magdalen College and Oxford, graduating first in his year before turning to the law. Passionate about technology (from AI to Blockchain, Robotics, and Virtual Reality) and politics. Author of Future Politics: Living Together in a World Transformed by Tech (Oxford University Press, 2018), described by the Observer as ‘crucial reading’ and by Gordon Brown as ‘groundbreaking’. The book confronts the question of how digital technology will transform politics and society. Writes and speaks about the future of power, freedom, justice, and democracy.
3 keywords that I want the audience to associate me with:
#AI
#futurepolitics
#Law
Sille Pettai
Fund manager, member of the management board of SmartCap
Sille is a fund manager and member of the management board of SmartCap, a state-funded investment company in Estonia focused on venture capital funds. She has more than 10 years of experience in asset management as an investment executive and prior to joining SmartCap she was responsible for alternative investments in pension funds at Swedbank Investment Funds.
3 keywords that I want the audience to associate me with:
#venturecapital
#EstonianMafia
#deeptech
Šarūnas Alekna
Chairman of the Board, Lithuanian Venture Capital Association; Fund Partner, BaltCap
Šarūnas has 10 years of Private Equity experience as a fund partner at BaltCap, where he has led several investments from entry to exit. He has also chaired the board of Lithuanian Venture Capital Association since 2018.
3 keywords that I want the audience to associate me with:
#M&A
#LTVCA
#Exits
Kristīne Bērziņa
Founding partner at Livonia Partners and LVCA member of the board
Kristīne is co-founder of Livonia Partners, a Baltics based private equity fund manager helping great Baltic entrepreneurs build companies excelling locally or internationally. Kristīne is Chairwoman of Latvian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association. She has diverse experience in investing, transactions, corporate strategy and operational management. Previously she spent over 10 years with PwC Consulting and IBM Business Consulting Services in Rīga, New York and London and later worked at Lattelecom.
3 keywords that I want the audience to associate me with:
#investor
#theultimatetrustbusiness
#motheranddogperson
Pablo Millán Cantero
Head of Division, Mandate Management – Equity, European Investment Fund (EIF), Luxembourg
Since joining the EIB Group in 2005 Pablo Millán Cantero has held several positions in the equity investment field, both inside and outside EU. In addition, from 2006 to 2009 Pablo was Investment Director of Dahlia Partners, a Pan European FoF, jointly managed by EIF and Natixis Private Equity.
3 keywords that I want the audience to associate me with:
#investments
#BalticInnovationFund
#eif4smes
Ingmārs Pūķis
VP & Member of the Management Board, LMT
Ingmārs has two decades of experience in telecommunications, marketing and business development. He is passionate about innovations and currently looking for 5G solutions in C-ITS, drone UTM systems, customer friendly IoT and cyber-defense. Ingmārs is also a national guard with the NG Student Battalion.
3 keywords that I want the audience to associate me with:
#innovations
#futureismobileonly
#Latvia
Ruta J Laukien
Managing Partner, GrayBella Capital
Ruta has 12 years of investment banking experience in M&A and capital raise from Bear Stearns and private investment bank. She is now managing partner at GrayBella Capital, as well as an active member of Duke Global Capital Markets Center Advisory Board and Board of Global Lithuanian Leaders.
3 keywords that I want the audience to associate me with:
#growth
#m&a
#healthcare
Lars-George Hedlund
Managing Director of Sodra Latvia
Lars-George is a founding member and the member of the board of Latvian Forest Owners Association since 2006. He is also a founding member, today Heading the nomination committee of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Latvia. Lars-George is a board member of a few Swedish-family owned forests in Latvia.
3 keywords that I want the audience to recognize me for:
#entrepreneurial
#sustainable
#European
Jānis Brazovskis
CAMS – Audit, Member of the Management Board, Finance Latvia Association
Extensive experience in banking, especially legal affairs, including in matters regarding the prevention, licensing and restructuring of money laundering and terrorism financing. Mr. Brazovskis attained his law degree at the University of Latvia and is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS – Audit).
3 keywords that I want the audience to associate me with:
#Lawyer
# Supervisor
#CAMS – Audit
Pier Luigi Gilibert
Chief Executive Officer of the European Investment Fund (EIF), Luxembourg
Since 2014 Pier Luigi Gilibert is heading EIF – a specialist provider of risk finance to benefit small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) across Europe. Previously, Mr. Gilibert held several positions, including Director General for Financing in the European Union and the Candidate Countries, at the European Investment Bank (EIB). Before joining the EIB, Mr. Gilibert worked for the Financial Studies and International Affairs departments of Banca Commerciale Italiana in Milan. Mr. Gilibert holds degrees in economics from the University of Turin (Italy) and the University of Rochester (United States of America).
3 keywords that I want the audience to recognize me for:
#eif4smes
#investment
#BelieveInSmall
Šarūnas Skyrius
Partner, Superia Corporate Finance
Šarūnas is a veteran investment banker with over two decades of experience in helping clients sell and buy businesses and raise capital in innovative ways. He has most recently advised the shareholders of Danpower in the sale of the company to Idex.
3 keywords that I want the audience to associate me with:
#valuecreation
#dealmaking
#maximisingresults
Liza Aizupiete
Managing Director, Fintelum.com
Liza Aizupiete, the Managing Director of Fintelum, which serves the burgeoning crypto capital markets industry. Previously Liza was a founder and the Managing Director of a cryptocurrency exchange Globitex, as well as the General Director of Lithuanian e-money institution NexPay UAB. A Latvian native, Liza graduated from the University of Geneva, Switzerland, majoring in Philosophy. Liza is experienced in the financial industry, including trading, fund and portfolio management. Since 2012, she has been passionate about Bitcoin and later crypto industry at large, as a proponent of a decentralized and sound monetary system.
3 keywords that I want the audience to associate me with:
#tokenisation
#crypto
#crowdfunding
Andris Bite
Member of the Board, SIA Karavela
Andris 24 years is building his expertise in the canned fish industry. He started as a merchandiser and went through all ups and downs of canning industries’ life cycles. Now he’s making first steps in the “country style” M&A field.
3 keywords that I want the audience to recognize me for:
#CANning
#nevergiveup
#takeitsimple
Imants Jansons
Senior Vice President of Legal Affairs at Air Baltic. Joined the company in 2012 and ensured legal support during the successful restructuring process and attraction of capital to the company, including working on the largest corporate bond issue originating from Latvia. In addition to an Executive MBA degree from the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, Imants received law degrees from the University of Latvia and expanded his legal knowledge at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Since 2015, Imants is a member of the IATA Legal Advisory Board, and he serves as a member of the Executive Committee of Airlines for Europe.
Kristjan Endrikson
General Counsel at Eesti Energia AS group of companies
Eesti Energia is Estonian state-owned international energy company that operates in the electricity and gas markets of the Baltic countries and Poland, Finland and Sweden, also in the international liquid fuels market. We are active in the renewable energy field with Enefit Green’s electricity and heat production portfolio from wind, solar, water, biomass as well as from municipal waste is the most diverse and one of the largest in the Baltic region.
I am passionate about leading the in-house legal team at Eesti Energia/Enefit. Being part of the same organisation lets me know my clients and have an in depth understaning of our core strategic businesses.
With over 25 companies located in nine countries and over 20 lawyers located in three countries, work is always challenging, inspirational and fun. I love working on M&A transactions with historical importance – the acquisition of Nelja Energia AS by Enefit Green AS, or the more recent acquisition of GEO Polish solar farms. I also enjoy complex negotiations and making sure that Eesti Energia acts in accordance with the best corporate governance practices.
3 keywords that I want the audience to recognize me for:
#Legal advice
#in-house lawyers
#M&A
Valērija Lieģe
Oaklins member firm M&A Baltics
Valērija is a change management professional with extensive M&A experience. She has led top Baltic companies through complex turnaround processes, implementing operational and financial restructuring, managed various M&A and refinancing projects.