A sales contract has been concluded for the first Estonian–Finnish submarine cable Estlink 1, making Estonian and Finnish main transmission system operators the new owners of the cable as of 30 December 2013. The total cost of the sales transaction was €77.6m. The assets of Estlink currently belong to the public company Nordic Energy Link and its subsidiary N.E.L. Finland, whose shareholders are Eesti Energia (39.9%), Latvenergo (25%), Lietuvos Energijos Gamyba (25%), and Finestlink (10.1%). The plan to sell Estlink 1 to main transmission system operators by the end of 2013 was already made upon making the investment decision; the need for this arises from the European Union regulation on transnational energy trading. The regulation included a terminal exception for founding Estlink 1 by electricity producers, valid until the end of 2013.
Estlink 1 is the first connection between the networks of Baltic and Nordic countries, active since the end of 2006. Its transmission capacity is 350 MW.