Paul Oberschneider, Chairman of Ober-Haus, announced today the purchase of the majority of shares in Ober-Haus Real Estate Agency, Central and Eastern Europe-s largest real estate brokerage business with 31 offices throughout Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
Oberschneider, along with other managers and employees of the agency, acquired the shares of the Ober-Haus agency business from controlling shareholder Apollo Real Estate Investment Fund III, L.P. The management buy-out transaction was financed through a private placement of notes arranged by Parex Bank of Latvia, and from equity provided by Oberschneider and managers.
The decision to purchase the agency was based on the combination of right market conditions at a time when Apollo-s investment had matured, and the availability of reasonable financing to make the deal work. The business has reached the investment stage in its lifecycle for Apollo.
“We had been working on this transaction for a year, and in the end felt it was best if the management and some of the employees owned the business in its next growth stage,” said Oberschneider.
Ober-Haus Real Estate Agency is known in Central and Eastern Europe as the largest single branded real estate service company in the region in terms of coverage and brokers on the ground. With 31 offices region wide, the company-s strategy is to continue to grow its core agency service operations throughout the new EU countries of the region.
