EfTEN Real Estate Fund 4 acquires RYO shopping centre in Panevezys, Lithuania

2018-12-04
TBT Staff

EfTEN Real Estate Fund 4 has acquired RYO shopping centre in Panevėžys, Lithuania, the fund’s already second property in one month. The price of the transaction was 47 million euros making it the second biggest investment in EfTEN’s history, following the purchase of Domina shopping centre in Riga in 2016.

RYO, previously owned by Finnish Pontos Group, is the biggest shopping centre in Panevėžys – a city of 89,000 inhabitants and a regional centre for over 150,000 people. The one-floor centre covers 24,300 square meters of leasable area and provides a parking lot for 950 cars. Centre was fully renovated by Pontos in 2014. There are currently 132 tenants in RYO, among other major tenants - RIMI, JYSK, H&M and Avitela.

“Following the purchase of Kadrioru Business Centre, RYO is an important addition to our portfolio as it will start producing positive cash-flow from day one, so EfTEN 4 is off to an excellent start,” said Viljar Arakas, CEO of EfTEN Capital. The transaction was closed on 30 November 2018.

The transaction volume is 47 million euros which will provide EfTEN Real Estate Fund 4 a net entrance yield of over 8 per cent, not considering the bank loan. EfTEN Capital will integrate RYO into with EfTEN’s successful Latvian and Lithuanian shopping centre management structure which is already managing Domina centre in Riga, Saules Miestas centre in Šiauliai and RAF centre in Jelgava. RYO included, EfTEN Capital’s shopping centre management team led by Mrs. Dina Bunce will operate a portfolio of 100,000 square meters of commercial space in Latvia and Lithuania. The transaction was advised by Newsec and financed by Swedbank. Seller’s legal counsel was Sorainen and buyer was represented by FORT Vilnius.

EfTEN Real Estate Fund 4 is a ten-year closed-end fund designed for institutional investors that is investing in cash flow generating commercial real estate properties in the Baltics. The non-public fund provides to institutional investors exposure to the Baltic real estate market by investing in large scale commercial cash flow properties such as office, retail and logistics.