Škoda Group has acquired a 36% stake in L-Ekspresis, a Latvian rolling stock maintenance company, in a move that gives the Czech manufacturer a minority holding in one of the Baltic states' established independent maintenance providers.

The transaction, reported by trade portal Railmarket, marks Škoda Group's entry into the Latvian maintenance market through equity participation rather than a greenfield facility. The company has not disclosed the purchase price or the seller.

L-Ekspresis is based in Latvia and provides maintenance services for rolling stock operated in the Baltic region. With Škoda Group taking a 36% shareholding, the Latvian company retains majority ownership elsewhere, meaning the Czech group joins as a significant minority investor rather than an outright acquirer.

For Škoda Group, the deal extends a strategy of building service and maintenance capability alongside its core manufacturing business. Rolling stock manufacturers across Europe have increasingly prioritised lifetime service contracts, depots and overhaul capacity because they provide recurring revenue over fleet lifecycles of 30 years or more — revenue that is less exposed to the cyclicality of new-build tendering.

The stake also anchors Škoda Group more firmly in the Baltic market. The three Baltic states — Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia — are re-equipping their railways under sustained European Union funding programmes, and the region's rolling stock fleets are being renewed with vehicles that will require long-term maintenance support close to their operating bases. A local maintenance partner gives a manufacturer a service position in that cycle without the capital cost of building a depot from scratch.

Neither Škoda Group nor L-Ekspresis has yet published details of how the shareholding will affect commercial arrangements — for example, whether L-Ekspresis will take on contracted maintenance for Škoda-built vehicles, or whether the two companies will jointly bid for service work in the Baltic states. Such details typically follow in regulatory filings and customer announcements once an equity transaction of this size closes.

The 36% level itself signals the structure Škoda has chosen: large enough to secure board representation and operational influence under Latvian corporate law, while stopping short of consolidation. Minority stakes in maintenance firms allow manufacturers to secure workshop capacity and market presence while sharing investment risk with local owners who hold the operating licences, premises and workforce relationships.

Škoda Group, headquartered in Plzeň, produces trams, metro trains, electric multiple units and locomotives, and has been expanding its international service footprint across Central and Eastern Europe in recent years.

The deal awaits confirmation of closing conditions and any regulatory review; further details on price, timing and the commercial scope of the partnership are expected to emerge as the transaction is finalised.