The Chairman of the Board and owner of Silberauto, Väino Kaldoja commented the deal in a press release: „Silberauto is the biggest automotive sales company in the Baltic states but to adapt to changes in the automotive market and to develop you have to be the biggest in an even bigger region.“
In an interview to Finnish business daily Kauppalehti he added: „Veho is a family business, just like us, so I believe that the culture and practices of the two companies fit together well.”
The CEO of Veho Juha Ruotsalainen added that Silberauto is a unique company that has a large client base and a commited staff.
As a result of the deal, Veho’s annual revenue will rise to more than 1.5 billion euros. For Veho, a strategic goal of the deal was to become the largest automotive company of the region.
The value of the M&A deal was not disclosed. The deal involves four companies belonging to the Silberauto group of companies: Silberauto AS (wholesale in Estonia), Silberauto Eesti AS (retail and aftersales in Estonia), Silberauto UAB (retail and aftersales in Lithuania) and Silwi Autoehitus (special vehicle manufacturing) but does not involve any of the real estate currently owned by companies in the Silberauto group.
Silberauto engages in wholesale, retail, aftersales, and special vehicle manufacturing and is among the largest and oldest companies in Estonia. Silberauto is the official distributor for automotive brands such as Mercedes-Benz in Estonia and Lithuania, Maserati, Mitsubishi and Jeep in Estonia and an official reseller of Citroen in East Estonia. In 2017, Silberauto was awarded Estonia’s Company of the year title in wholesale.
In the recent years, Silberauto is internationally known for taking part of the Iseauto or autonomous vehicle project conducted in cooperation with TalTech. Kaldoja, the owner and chairman of the board of Silberauto has promised to dedicate himself even more to promoting interest in technology among and providing more possibilities to young people interested in it after the deal with Veho.
Veho, a Finnish company, was founded in 1939 and is active not only in Finland but also in Sweden and the Baltic countries. In 2018, the company had net sales of EUR 1.2 billion, of which over a fifth came from Sweden and the Baltic countries. The company has been owned by the same family since its inception.
