The real estate investment company INVL Baltic Real Estate signed an agreement to buy the remaining part of the building at Vilniaus Street 37 in the Lithuanian capital. The company is acquiring the property by purchasing 100% of the shares of the company RE 1 UAB for EUR 2.2 million.
The remaining premises which are being acquired amount to 257 sq. m. Following the transaction, INVL Baltic Real Estate will own a total of 1,990 sq. m. of space at Vilniaus Street 37 in Vilnius.
“After this deal, which we plan to complete in the near future, we are assuming the management of the entire building at Vilniaus Street 37. As sole owner of this exceptional building in the Vilnius Old Town, we will now be able to carry out the planned reconstruction and improvement of the building with maximum quality and efficiency, and the project itself will be distinctive and will enable us to generate an attractive return for the company’s investors,” says Vytautas Bakšinskas, the real estate fund manager at INVL Asset Management, which manages INVL Baltic Real Estate.
The building at Vilniaus Street 37 is protected by the state as a cultural heritage site. According to Vytautas Bakšinskas, cultural heritage specialists who have worked intensely in the building over the past six months have found unique historical wall and ceiling paintings.
“The building’s surviving patrimony testifies to its deep and rich history. This means that we will have to bring in the most qualified specialists to preserve and restore this cultural heritage and open it up to the public. We are currently further developing the plans for the reconstruction and restoration of this unique building,” Vytautas Bakšinskas notes.
INVL Baltic Real Estate acquired most of the premises and part of a land plot at Vilniaus Street 37 from Turto Bankas VĮ in September last year. In May this year, the real estate investment company signed a 5-year agreement with Šiaulių Bankas on increasing the size of a loan from the bank from EUR 10 million to EUR 14.5 million. The company plans to use the loan to reconstruct and develop the building at Vilniaus Street 37 and to balance its working capital.
On completing the Vilniaus Street 37 reconstruction project, the company will be able to offer the market about 2,200 sq. m. of leasable space including offices of the highest class on the building’s second and third floors along with commercial premises on the first floor.
INVL Baltic Real Estate this year paid shareholders EUR 1 million of dividends, allocating EUR 0.12 per share. That was significantly more than the EUR 0.09 dividend envisaged in the company’s dividend policy. Based on INVL Baltic Real Estate’s share price on 12 April 2022, when the decision to pay the dividends was made at a meeting of the company’s shareholders, the dividend yield was more than 5%.
About INVL Baltic Real Estate
INVL Baltic Real Estate owns real estate in Vilnius and Riga: office buildings in the Old Town of the Lithuanian capital on Vilniaus Street and in Šiaurės Miestelis, and the Dommo Business Park manufacturing, warehouse and office complex beside the Riga bypass. The company’s properties had occupancies of 98% to 100% at year-end.
INVL Baltic Real Estate’s current property holdings have a total area of 28,000 sq. m. and a value of EUR 29.7 million.
Since its launch as a collective investment undertaking (on 22 December 2016), INVL Baltic Real Estate has been one of the Baltic real estate funds open to retail investors with the highest stable returns. The fund operates as a closed-end investment company. Management of the company was assumed by INVL Asset Management, one of Lithuania’s leading asset management firms. The company will operate as a closed-end investment company until 2046, with extension possible for a further 20 years.
