OREANDA-NEWS. January 28, 2010. The private equity and venture capital investor BaltCap announced that it has acquired 100 percent of the shares in Estonia's leading aircraft maintenance company Air Maintenance Estonia from the Scandinavian SAS group.

The parties have decided not to disclose the value of the transaction.

The financial adviser for SAS in the deal was SEB Enskilda Corporate Finance. SAS has been the owner of Air Maintenance Estonia since 2003.

"SAS is concentrating on its core activities, and exiting maintenance operations is part of our strategy. AME needs new investments for further expansion and therefore its sale to BaltCap is a logical step," said Sture Stolen, vice president of SAS responsible for investor relations.

BaltCap will support Air Maintenance Estonia's expansion strategy and intends to double its existing production capacity during the next two years, said Kristjan Kalda, chief of investments at BaltCap.

Lars-Olof Bolinder will continue as CEO of Air Maintenance Estonia.

The maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) company Air Maintenance Estonia started operations in 1995, providing maintenance services to Estonian Air aircraft. Since 2002 the company is operating independently.

The clients of Air Maintenance Estonia are different European aviation companies, including Estonian Air. In 2009, the company's turnover totaled 196 million kroons.