Lords LB Special Fund V of the Lithuanian investment management company Lords LB Asset Management is going to invest more than EUR 200 million into the territory of the former Press Chamber in Riga, Latvia, that was acquired for EUR 16.8 million from Latvian Shipping Company, owned by Vitol. This will be the largest office space development project in the Baltics and one of first steps of the company’s expansion in the region.
“With consistent growth of our funds’ assets, we search for new investment directions,” said Domas Kačinskas, CEO at Lords LB Asset Management. “The project in Riga is one of the first steps in expansion of our real estate investments’ geography. This is our first commercial real estate development investment outside Lithuania.”
According to Mr. Kačinskas, there were two reasons behind such growth of the company’s investments portfolio. First of all, investors’ confidence is attracted by the high quality of real estate assets developed in good locations and second, investors value highly transparent, reliably managed and properly supervised activities of the fund.
During the last three years, assets managed by Lords LB Asset Management grew from EUR 158 million to more than EUR 320 million.
The project in Riga is in line with the company’s investment strategy, since the land plot is in an exceptionally attractive location. The surrounding territories will become the city’s main business area in the nearest future. There is convenient communication between the location and the city’s old town and the airport. The project will be led by Aivaras Abromavičius, former partner at East Capital, who has extensive experience in investment management.
“I have been investing in Latvia since 1996, when I worked at Hansabank, so I know the market very well,” said Aivaras Abromavičius, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of this project. “Currently Latvia’s economy is among the EU’s most rapidly developing, therefore we see perfect opportunities on the Class-A office space market. The project will be the largest office space development project in the Baltics.”
According to Mr. Abromavičius, this project will change the face of Riga, become the foundation for the most modern business district in Latvia’s capital, attract foreign investments and create new jobs. Investors from Sweden, Denmark and the Baltic States are participating in the project.
The asset was purchased by Lords LB Special Fund V, which aims at investing into real estate projects in Latvia. The fund’s initial size is EUR 20 million and the maximum size is EUR 40 million. The fund will be active for at least eight years and will invest more than EUR 200 million into development of the project. Investments will be carried out over several phases.
Lords LB Special Fund V of the investment management company Lords LB Asset Management acquired the 5.8 ha plot, located near Riga’s Vanšu Bridge, that also included several buildings existing on the plot, i.e. the former Press
Chamber and an inactive printing-house.
The buildings’ fate will be decided upon approval of the plot development concept. According to applicable regulations, this territory may be used for development of real estate objects with a combined area exceeding 100,000 sqm.
Lords LB Asset Management is an investment management company, licenced and supervised by the Bank of Lithuania. The company has been providing investment management services to institutional clients and high net worth individuals since 2008.
Lords LB Asset Management manages 14 funds: nine real estate funds, three private capital funds and two energy and infrastructure funds. The total value of assets managed by the funds reached EUR 310 million at the end of December 2016.
