Orion role in this project

East West Agro’s (EWA) partnership with Orion Securities began in 2015, when EWA was part of the Kaunas Grūdai Group. At that time the current major shareholders were seeking to buy out the shares from the major shareholder.

Orion managed to negotiate with 3 parties at the same time:
– The share buyout price and terms with Kauno Grūdai were negotiated;
– 1.5 m EUR was raised to fund the buyout with the 5-year, 15% subordinated loan from Practica Capital;
– Without the backing of the Kaunas Grain Group, SEB Bank refused to continue financing EWA’s operations, which led to an agreement with Swedbank to refinance a 3 m EUR loan.

Project type	Capital raising for MBO
Orion role	MBO Advisor and capital raiser
Client	East West Agro, UAB
Project value	1.5 m EUR
Project year	2015

Further cooperation:

2017

In 2017 after the repurchase of shares East West Agro (EWA) managed to double revenues and triple profits within one year. Additional capital was needed to further finance this rapid growth and it was decided to distribute part of the shares through IPO.

Orion successfully and with a high value distributed 20% of EWA shares:
― IPO process required intensive preparation:
a review of the agricultural market has been carried out, a descriptive document for the stock exchange was being prepared with legal advisers and a coherent IPO PR campaign was initiated together with communication agency
― IPO result: fully distributed 3 m EUR issue, share valuation – x7.4 EBITDA

2018-2019

Further partnership

After a successful IPO implementation Aurelijus Rimkus, the partner of Orion Securities, became a Board member at EWA. The possibilities to acquire companies in Latvia and Estonia were being analyzed.

Orion Securities – Member of Pandea Global M&A network

This international advisory network gives Orion team an exclusive access to foreign buyers and investors, allowing our clients based in Lithuania to access a larger number of acquisitions in new geographies. In addition to that our cooperation gives clients the opportunity to consult with Pandea consultants, who can help and advise our clients on issues of business development abroad.