Swedish Eastnine signed an agreement to acquire two office properties from Vastint – the UNIQ business centre in Vilnius, Lithuania and the Zala 1 office building in Riga, Latvia. The transaction is expected to be closed in one month.
“We are pleased to be growing our portfolio with the acquisition of these two properties. UNIQ and Zala 1 represent desirable, well-located, and high-quality offices that are very complementary to our existing footprint in both Vilnius and Riga.” says Kestutis Sasnauskas, the CEO of Eastnine.
UNIQ
The first property, the 6,900 m2 UNIQ office building, is located at A. Goštauto St. 12A in Vilnius. The business centre is in a strategically convenient location, easily accessible from both Vilnius’s Old Town and its central business district. One of the Lithuanian capital’s most important transport arteries, Geležinio Vilko Street, is beside the facility. Built in 2016, the seven-storey class A business centre features modern architecture and innovative technical solutions. The property is LEED Platinum certified. Its sole tenant is Danske Bank IT service centre.
“UNIQ is in fact a unique project in Vastint Lithuania’s portfolio. It is the first LEED Platinum project in the Baltic region, built on the site of a demolished inefficient building, notable for exceptional interior elements designed together with the tenant. The development and sale of UNIQ is a good example of value-add potential lying within our portfolio, which we look forward to continue to realize. Vastint Lithuania is expanding its activities in Lithuania and aims to renew its portfolio by investing in integrated mixed-use commercial and residential projects,” says Kęstutis Vedeckis, the Managing Director of Vastint Lithuania.
Zala 1
Zala 1 is a class A business centre located in the historical centre of Riga, Latvia. The property, which had housed a tobacco factory since 1899, was reconstructed in 2009 into a modern five-storey office building with a two-storey underground car park. The property is LEED Platinum certified. The main tenants of the building are Microsoft, IVF Riga clinic, Arvato Systems, and CBRE.
“Zala 1 is a combination of a heritage building and a complex underground engineering structure (the parking is over six thousand square meters large, 2 levels below the surface and 6 meters under the ground water level). The property is one of a kind in the historical centre of Riga a.k.a. the Embassy District. We look forward to building a good neighbors’ relationship with Eastnine, as we remain the owners of the adjacent AC Hotel by Marriott Riga and continue to develop Magdelēnas kvartāls on the other side of Antonijas Street,” adds Romans Astahovs, the Managing Director of Vastint Latvia.
Newsec and Catella acted as advisors to Vastint in this transaction. The buyer was represented in the transaction by the law firms Walless Lithuania and Ellex Latvia, while the seller was advised on legal matters by the law firms FORT Latvia and Glimstedt Lithuania. SEB in Lithuania and OP in Latvia financed the transaction.