Succession solution: Pine Coast brings a new business model to the Baltic states
Forbes
Baltic edition
With younger generations focused on achieving their personal goals rather than taking over parents’ business, 60% of businesses worldwide do not have a succession plan in place. Committing to continue the legacy of retiring business owners, Pine Coast brings a new, innovative entrepreneurship model to the Baltic business scene. Backed by 20 local and international partners, its managing director Kirils Gerasimovics is searching for an enterprise to acquire.
Not having a business successor within the family leaves business owners in great concern about the longevity of their business after they retire. With the single purpose of offering a succession solution to one promising business in Latvia, Lithuania or Estonia, Pine Coast brings the renowned business model also to the Baltic states.
“Unfortunately, in Europe nearly half of company owners’ children are more interested in the startup world than continuing their parents’ legacy, leaving parents without many options,” says Kirils Gerasimovics, managing director of Pine Coast. Backed by capital and guidance from 20 local and international partners, Kirils is the aspiring entrepreneur who will assume the role of managing director of the acquired company. He has over 8 years of finance and investment experience at leading international financial institutions, where he worked closely with senior management of the companies across industries.
“With his ambition to take over and run one single good business, Kirils has managed to convince a group of experienced entrepreneurs to fund a search and purchase of a company for him. In the business world, that doesn’t happen often,” says Eero Tohver, CEO of Estonian software company Uptime, investor with over 20 years of executive experience and one of the partner-investors at Pine Coast.
Partners also play a major role not only in funding the search and purchase, but also managing the company’s operations. While providing capital, the partners, successful CEOs, entrepreneurs and serial investors with extensive operational and investment experiences, also offer their mentorship through the life of the project. Some of them will also be active board members of the acquired company.
Kirils’ and his partners’ objective is to focus efforts on preserving the legacy and further developing the acquired business. “How will my company look like in 10 years? is a question that many business owners are afraid to ask. For a retiring entrepreneur, it’s important to know that his business falls into good hands, and it doesn’t end up with someone squeezing the business out of resources, cutting workforce or something alike,” Kirils explains. Once the company is found and acquired, he will relocate to take the key management role.
Worldwide, this business model has proven to be an excellent exit strategy for retiring business owners without a succession plan in a wide variety of industries. “My radar is set on finding a company that is ready for this innovative model. My partners and I have business know-how and capital, and we are thrilled to enliven this concept also in the Baltics,” Kirils says.
You can learn more about Pine Coast here.
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