The real estate investment company INVL Baltic Real Estate has completed a two-month share buy-back process during which 11 shareholders submitted orders for the repurchase of 4,988,155 shares of the company for EUR 11 million, which constitutes 37.93% of all outstanding shares of the company. Final buy-back of the shares and settlement for them will take place on 29 March this year.
The buy-back price per share of EUR 2.2103 equalled the net asset value per share on 30 November 2020.
“Buying back some of its own shares will enable the company to reduce excess equity capital and at the same time generate a bigger return on shareholders’ equity. Our aim is for the company to have a suitable capital structure and be efficient – that’s important for creating value for investors. We’re also ready to invest in non-standard, creative solutions that would help earn a big return for investors and expand the real estate management business, and to raise new capital as needed,” says Vytautas Bakšinskas, the real estate fund manager at INVL Asset Management, which manages INVL Baltic Real Estate.
The company’s shares were repurchased, and settlement made with the shareholders who submitted orders to sell and met the requirements set out in the company’s share buy-back rules, in four stages:
The share buy-back processwas conducted on the basis of the decision made at the general meeting of the company’s shareholders on 14 January this year to amend essential provisions of the company’s founding documents. Shareholders of the company who opposed or did not vote for the amendments had the right to require that the company buy back the shares they held.
The share buy-back process took place from 25 January 2021 to 25 March 2021 (inclusive).
After 29 March 2021, the company will own a total of 5,088,586 of its own shares, which will constitute 38.7% of all the company’s outstanding shares. Such shares do not confer property or non-property rights, such as the right to receive a portion of profits, and are not included in calculating a quorum for the general meeting of the company’s shareholders, and therefore should be excluded when calculating shareholders’ effective stake in the company.
Considering that large numbers of shares have changed hands, it is expected that after settlement, notifications about the loss of voting rights will be received and that information will be announced publicly on the Nasdaq Vilnius website together with the full shareholder structure after the buy-back.
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 occupancy levels of between 72% and 100% at year-end.
INVL Baltic Real Estate’s property holdings currently have an area of 26,000 sq. m. and a value of EUR 24.13 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.