October 15th, 2009

Tallinn

The leading Baltic investment bank GILD Bankers published a new edition of GILD100, the ranking of the most valuable Estonian companies compiled on the basis of the companies` annual reports of 2008. The total estimated equity value of the 100 largest Estonian companies has dropped ca 55 percent from around EUR 19.4bn in 2008 to around EUR 8.8bn in 2008. Over 50% of the most valuable companies are in the foreign hands. The state-owned energy company Eesti Energia with the estimated market value of EUR 1.1 billion is the most valuable Estonian company.

Managing Partner or GILD Bankers Rain Tamm commented: „This year GILD100 clearly shows that the largest and most successful entrepreneur in Estonia is the Republic of Estonia. There are nine companies in the ranking, where the state is the owner or the controlling shareholder. However, these state-owned companies that positioned well in this year`s ranking would have been successful in the current economic environment also as privately owned companies. There is no need for the state to retain control in all these companies, but rather weigh new possibilities that might open with listing on stock exchange or involving new strategic investors.“

Vesa Heikkilä, Head of Nordic Investment Banking at GILD comments: “From the Nordic perspective it is noteworthy that Finnish companies and investors have control in 18 of the 100 largest Estonian companies and the Swedish 8 correspondingly. Furthermore foreign owned companies generated over 75% of the total profits. The largest foreign owned company Swedbank’s Baltic operations alone generated over third of all profits of the largest Estonian companies. Intuitively the high profits of foreign owned companies may be a sign that locally owned companies are more willing to reinvest their profits in Estonia.”

GILD Bankers leads the project for the third year in cooperation with NASDAQ OMX Tallinn Stock Exchange, Estonian Employers' Confederation and the weekly newspaper Eesti Ekspress.

The top ten companies of the GILD100 ranking

(name of the company, sector, value in EUR millions, rank in 2008):

1. Eesti Energia AS Utilities sector 1,114    2.

2. Swedbank AS Financial sector 973     1.

3. Eesti Telekom AS  Telecommunications  538     4.

4. Tele2 Eesti AS  Telecommunications   298     9.

5. BLRT Grupp AS  Metal industry   291    7.

6. Tallink Grupp AS  Transport   256   5.

7. SEB Pank AS  Financial sector   253   3.

8. Elisa Eesti AS  Telecommunications   222   12.

9. Tallinna Sadam AS   Transport   219   10.

10. Tallinna Vesi AS   Utilities sector   180   14.

GILD100 ranks the largest Estonian companies by their estimated market capitalization, provided that they had been listed on Tallinn Stock Exchange in the beginning of the year, this time 1 January 2009. The valuation is based on comparative valuation method that is recognised by international business journals and financial analysts. The entire GILD100 ranking can be found on the website of GILD Bankers www.gildbankers.com and additional comments are available in GILD blog www.gildbankers.com/blog.

GILD Bankers is a leading Baltic investment bank active in all European countries. The core services of GILD are management of alternative funds and investment banking. Baltic countries are the home markets of GILD, but the area of activities and investments extends to the CEE and CIS region.

For additional information, please contact:

Kadri Kütt

Communication Manager

GILD Bankers

+372 56 800 467

kadri.kytt(at)gildbankers.com