Port operator Port of Tallinn (AS Tallinna Sadam) announced that they would get listed at the Tallinn Stock Exchange. This step follows the course outlined in the coalition agreement signed by the Center Party, the Social Democrats, and the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (IRL) a year ago.
According to the agreement, the plan is to get up to 30% of the company’s shares listed.
At its November 16 meeting the government gave Minister of Economic Affairs Kadri Simson (Center) the mandate to continue with the preparations for Port of Tallinn’s initial public offering (IPO) and confirmed principles and a schedule.
The aim of the company is to get listed at the Nasdaq Tallinn exchange no later than the end of the first half of 2018. The state will retain the controlling stake in the port operator.
“The aim of taking Port of Tallinn public is to increase the company’s value, and to create investment opportunities for Estonian individuals as well as pension funds,” Prime Minister Juri Ratas (Center) stressed at the government’s press conference.
Ratas added that it was very important for the government to increase Estonia’s attractiveness to investors abroad as well.
“I believe that Port of Tallinn shares are a good opportunity for our partners in Europe and in particular in the Nordic countries to invest in Estonia,” Ratas said.
Minister of Economic Affairs Kadri Simson said that Port of Tallinn had been a successful business.
“And the selling of a stake in it is an opportunity for Estonians to be a part of it,” she added.
Simson also pointed out that Port of Tallinn’s IPO would raise the company’s profile, present a chance for local pension funds to invest a larger volume in the local economy, would increase trading at the Tallinn Stock Exchange, and work towards Estonia’s imagine as a good place to invest. (ERR/Business World Magazine)