Ekspress Grupp‘s Majority Shareholder to launch Takeover Bid, Plans to Delist from Tallinn Stock Exchange
TALLINN, Estonia – HHL Rühm OÜ, the main shareholder and led by founder Hans H. Luik, announced Friday its intention to make a voluntary share buyback offer to minority shareholders of AS ekspress Grupp, the leading media group in the Baltics. The offer, representing a premium of approximately 15%, aims to increase HHL Rühm’s stake in Ekspress Grupp to 90%. Following a successful bid, the company intends to delist from the Nasdaq Tallinn Stock Exchange.
The voluntary offer will be made at a price of EUR 1.25 per Ekspress Grupp share, calculated based on the average share price during the first three quarters of 2025 (EUR 1.1165) plus a premium of EUR 0.13, or 14.91% per share.
According to Hans H. luik, a member of the board of HHL Rühm, the decision stems from Ekspress Grupp’s limited need for large-scale capital raising. “The main purpose why companies are listed on the stock exchange is to attract capital for doing business. As Ekspress Group operation does not require large-scale capital raising,there is no need to be listed on the stock exchange,” Luik stated. He also cited notable administrative and financial costs associated with maintaining a stock exchange listing, arguing that focusing on efficiency is crucial in the challenging media landscape.”The media environment is constantly in a challenging situation, and the preservation and management of local languages and locally oriented media will be a major challenge in the future. Therefore, the entire organization must focus on efficiency and abandon everything that hinders it.”
HHL Rühm plans to follow the voluntary offer with a mandatory share buyback offer, in accordance with regulations.The detailed conditions of the voluntary share buyback offer will be published in a prospectus after approval from the Estonian Financial Supervisory Authority.
AS Ekspress Grupp, founded in 1989, is a prominent media group in the Baltics, encompassing online media content creation, newspaper and magazine publishing, book publishing, ticket sales platforms, digital outdoor screen services in Estonia and Latvia, and event organization across the Baltic states.The group currently employs approximately one thousand people.
More information on the intention to make a voluntary share buyback offer can be found here: https://view.news.eu.nasdaq.com/view?id=1399471&lang=en
