EfTEN bought an over 16,000 square meter retail park in Vilnius

EfTEN Real Estate Fund 5, managed by EfTEN Capital, bought the newly completed UNA retail park at Dangeručio 1 in Vilnius. As the acquiring fund is the largest investment of the EfTEN United Property Fund, the main ultimate beneficiaries of the shopping centre will be almost 6,000 Estonian retail investors. UNA's anchor tenants are Kesko Senukai and Rimi. Transaction is financed by the SEB bank.

"Over the last few years EfTEN has essentially made no larger transactions on the real estate market. As interest rates have increased, there have been no projects for sale at terms that are in line with EfTEN’s conservative investment principles. Now that EURIBOR is falling again, we are also becoming more active on the property market. In the post-COVID era an increasing number of people are preferring to work part-time from home. It also directs retail out of the city center and closer to residential districts. In the portfolio of various EfTEN funds, shopping centers in residential districts have shown the best results in recent years. The UNA retail park is the largest retail property transaction in the Baltics this year," commented Viljar Arakas, Chairman of the Management Board, on the background of the transaction.

UNA retail park is located in a rapidly growing suburb of Vilnius, directly on a key access road connecting the capital with the North-Eastern part of the country. It is a modern one-storey center of over 16,000 square meters, where most tenants have separate entrances that open onto a large courtyard area in front of the center, normally used for parking. This not only prevents possible business restrictions tenants faced in COVID times, but also allows the courtyard to be used for community and marketing events, such as seasonal fairs.

The transaction was brokered by the the Newsec and FORT Legal represented EfTEN Capital. The seller VPH was legally advised by Ellex.