Commercial, corporate and M&A

Cobalt

Cobalt‘s offering is centred around big-ticket, cross-border deals, an area of expertise for practice head Martin Simovart, who leads the team alongside Peeter Kutman, a name to note on the transactional side. Elsewhere in the team, managing associate Jesse Kivisaari is noted for his ’excellent language skills (both Finnish and English) and high-quality client service‘, and brings over 12 years of M&A and private equity transactional experience to the team. Ott Aava, who oversees the technology-sector M&A matters of the firm, is another key contact.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

'Strong international experience and capability which makes their dealings with international clients much more effective. Their English is very good and they know how to look after clients to a standard that makes them amongst the best in the Baltic market generally, including Estonia. ’
‘Martin Simovart is very experienced in big-ticket cross-border deals.'
'Jesse Kivisaari has excellent language skills (both Finnish and English) and high-quality client service. Very bright and engaged. ’
‘Cobalt is an esteemed player in the pan-Baltic area. They are very good with transactions and the fact that they have offices in all the Baltic countries is an asset as in many cases a transaction involves several, if not all, Baltic countries. This kind of one-stop-shop is valued as the client may not wish to work with different law firms in a single transaction.'
‘The experts of Cobalt are really easy-going and they are always available to assist. They are pragmatic and their advice is accurate. I very much like Jesse Kivisaari's approach and pragmatic advice and of course Steen Luiga is an excellent transactional lawyer and very well established in the Estonian market (private and public).’

Key clients

HKScan
Aptiv
BaltCap
Zurich Insurance Group
Goodyear Dunlop Tires
Waterland Private Equity
Helmes
Levine Leichtman Capital Partners
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM)
Mid Europa Partners
Bidfood, aa
Lightrock
Mirova Energy Transition 5 S.L.P

Work highlights

Advises HKScan Oyj on the sale of its Baltic business to AS Maag Grupp.
Advised VKG Soojus on its sale to Partners Group portfolio company Gren.
Advised Mirova Energy Transition 5 on the acquisition of project companies and signing a contract with Estonian renewable energy developer Evecon OÜ to develop solar plants.

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