The Competition Council (KP) has received a merger notification from Baltic World Ltd. — owned by Turkish tourism entrepreneur Neşet Koçkar (operator of Anex Tour) — regarding his plans to acquire decisive influence over Lithuanian tour operator Novaturas, the KP reported.
Baltic World operates in Latvia and functions as a tour operator across Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, organizing and selling package holidays to various foreign destinations that include flights, accommodation, transfers, and excursions.
Koçkar is an international entrepreneur and investor active mainly in the tourism and related sectors, providing a wide range of travel services, including airline operations, hotel management, and tour organization. According to the Competition Council, Koçkar controls more than 50 companies worldwide.
Meanwhile, Novaturas provides tourism services in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, offering package holidays to a variety of leisure destinations, including air travel, accommodation, transfers, and guided excursions. In Latvia, its operations are carried out by Novatours Ltd., which is registered as both a tour operator and a travel agent.
According to information provided by the parties involved,
both companies operate in the market for package tourism services,
KP noted.
The Competition Council must decide within one month from receiving the merger notification whether to approve, prohibit, or approve the merger with binding conditions.
If additional in-depth investigation is required, the decision period may be extended up to four months from the date the notification was received.
As previously reported, in April, Koçkar acquired 23.2% of Novaturas shares for 1.159 million euros from shareholders Ugnius Radvila, Vidas Paļūnas, and Rytis Šūmakaris.
He also provided a 1 million euros loan to Novaturas, which was later increased to €2 million.
By autumn, Koçkar was expected to acquire an additional 10% stake from Lithuanian investment company Willgrow, which would raise his ownership to 33.19%.
The Novaturas Group reported 200.878 million euros in turnover last year
— 3.6% less than the year before — and suffered a loss of 7.604 million euros, compared to a profit the previous year.
The group’s revenues by country last year were 42.8 million euros in Latvia, 110.7 million euros in Lithuania, and 47.4 million euros in Estonia.
Novaturas shares are listed on the official list of the Vilnius Stock Exchange.
Its Latvian subsidiary, Novatours Ltd., was registered in 2000.
Baltic World recorded a turnover of 73.967 million euros in 2024, earning a profit of 373,163 euros, according to data from Firmas.lv.
The company was founded in 2022 with a share capital of 255,000 euros.
Its owner is the Netherlands-based company Set Travel B.V., while Neşet Koçkar is the ultimate beneficial owner.
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