The Estonian company Kose Männisalu became the owner of Merks

Estonian real estate company “Kose Männisalu” has become the owner of Latvian construction company SIA “Merks”, according to “Firmas.lv” information.

On the other hand, the Estonian citizen Mēlis Olevs has become a real asset to the company.

It was already reported that the Estonian construction company “Merko Ehitus” announced at the beginning of August that it had sold the Latvian construction company SIA “Merks”.

As “Merko Ehitus” reported, on August 1, the purchase-sale agreement came into effect, by which “Merko Investments”, a member of the “Merko Ehitus” group, sold the Latvian construction company “Merks”.

When they agree with the buyer, the parties will not reveal the price of the transaction.

The “Merks” contract package has disintegrated, and the company has no economic activity, only legal disputes and the fulfillment of warranty obligations with “Merko Ehitus” are left to the company, according to a statement to the Tallinn Stock Exchange.

“Merko Ehitus” announced that changes are being made to the organization’s structure to make the management in each country more efficient and to strengthen the focus on the main business, which is construction services and real estate development.

On August 1, the board “Merko Ehitus” decided in cooperation with the council to stop construction services and investments in Norway. After the execution of the existing construction contracts, the subsidiary in Norway “Peritus Entrepreneur” will be sold or liquidated.

The board of the group also decided that the company “Connecto Eesti” from the subsidiary of the group “Merko Ehitus Eesti” would become the property of “Merko Ehitus”. “Merko Ehitus” will establish a subsidiary for the management of “Connecto Eesti”.

After the reorganization, the home markets of “Merko Ehitus” are Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Construction services are provided by “Merko Ehitus Eesti” in Estonia, “Merko būve” in Latvia and “Merko statyba” in Lithuania. Real estate development is carried out by “Merko Kodud” in Estonia, “Merks majas” in Latvia and “Merko Būstas” in Lithuania. “Tallinn Teede” involved in the construction and maintenance of roads and facilities in Estonia. “Connecto Eesti”, in which the group “Merko Ehitus” owns 50%, designs, builds and maintains electricity, telecommunication and gas networks in Estonia, and its subsidiaries are active in the construction of electrical infrastructure in Latvia and Lithuania.

As indicated in the group’s statement, the mentioned changes have little impact on the operations of “Merko Ehitus”, and the transactions are not considered as related party transactions according to Tallinn Stock Exchange rules. . Board and council members of “Merko Ehitus” have no economic interest in transactions.

Group companies “Merko Ehitus” develop properties and build buildings and infrastructure. At the end of 2023, the group had 635 employees, and the group’s income last year was 466 million euros.

As reported, last year “Merks” worked with a turnover of 58.379 million euros, which is 46.4% less than in 2022, while the company’s profit increased by 36.9% and was three million euros, according to “Firmas.lv” information.

The company “Merks” was registered in 1996, and its share capital is one million euros.

It was already reported that the construction company “Merks” was involved in a cartel, which was discovered by the Competition Council (KP) in 2021. The members of the cartel were involved in at least 70 procurements for a total contract of 687 million euros.

The KP fined the ten companies involved in the construction cartel with a total of 16,652,927 euros. Among the 10 companies fined are SIA “Skonto būve”, SIA “Latvijas energoceltnieks”, SIA “Velve”, SIA “Archers”, SIA “Rere būve”, SIA “Re & Re”, SIA “RBSSKALS būvvadība”, SIA “Abora “, “LNK Industries” and SIA “Merks”. True, the “RBSSKALS construction administration” has already been demolished, so no penalty was imposed on it.

Eight out of ten construction companies fined by the KP appealed against the KP’s decision in the Administrative District Court, but since several construction companies have filed appeals with it their parent companies, there are a total of 13 companies as plaintiffs in the case. .

The joint case was initiated against “Skonto būves”, “Latvijas energoceltnieka”, “Rere būves” and its parent company AS “Rere grupa”, “Archera”, “LNK Industries”, “Abora” and its parent company SIA “Tehnocentrs”, “Re & Re”, “LNK Industries” parent company SIA “LNK (Latvijas novitiates kompleks)”, “Merks” and the parent company “Merko Ehitus” AS and “Archera” parent company AS “UGN” applications .

Two of the 10 penalized companies did not appeal against the decision of the KP – “Velve”, with which the KP agreed to a settlement and gave a positive opinion on the measures taken by the company to “restore credit” of the customer, as well as “RBSSKALS būvvadība”.

If the court pronounces an unfavorable decision on the applicants, they will have to pay a fine and will not be allowed to participate in public procurement for a certain period, in addition to being able to start applications to raise against him. to them for projects that have already been implemented.