Invalda INVL, one of the Baltic region’s leading asset management groups, had equity of EUR 65.2 million at the end of September 2018, which is 1.8% more than at the end of 2017. Equity per share increased 2% in nine months of this year to EUR 5.64. Invalda INVL’s net profit for three quarters of the year was EUR 0.1 million (in the same period last year it was EUR 8.3 million).
“In Invalda INVL’s main asset management business we are growing, our assets under management are increasing and we’re broadening the investment and savings opportunities for our clients. Because of the active expansion, this year we don’t plan a profit from these activities. In our investment activity there haven’t been any significant events or sale transactions that could affect results, so profit from that activity was not big. At the start of the fourth quarter we invested with partners in Moldova’s largest bank,” said Darius Šulnis, the president of Invalda INVL.
Asset management business
The Invalda INVL group had total client assets under management of EUR 687 million at the end of September 2018, or 12.4% more than at the end of 2017 (EUR 611.5 million).
“Even though some of our products were the best or among the best in the market, some investors experienced losses, but overall we earned EUR 10.8 million for clients. This year has been marked by volatility in the markets, with many asset classes giving a negative return,” Darius Šulnis said.
He said investments in expansion and new product development in the area of asset management continue, which is having a negative effect on operating results. It is planned to start getting revenue from them next year. Invalda INVL’s group revenue from asset management grew 13.8% in the first nine months of this year to EUR 5.5 million, with a loss of EUR 0.3 million from those operations.
Investments in controlled companies and funds
INVL Baltic Real Estate
Invalda INVL owns 32.22% of the shares of INVL Baltic Real Estate, the value of which was EUR 10.5 million at the end of September. The company’s gain from the stake in nine months of the year was EUR 1 million, including dividends. “INVL Baltic Real Estate is operating successfully, earning the planned profit and generating stable flows for investors,” Darius Šulnis said.
INVL Technology
Invalda INVL owns 14.18% of the shares of INVL Technology, the value of which increased by 2.7% in January-September to EUR 2.6 million. “The revenue and profit of the majority of INVL Technology’s portfolio companies are growing this year, so we expect that the share price will reflect that,” Darius Šulnis said.
INVL Baltic Forests Fund I
Investments (through INVL Asset Management) in the INVL Baltic Forests Fund I totalled EUR 0.8 million at the end of September. “Following the successful 10-miilion-euro second offering, the fund is continuing active operations and investing in forests. Due to rational investments and a favourable market situation, the fund’s unit value rose 11.8% from the start of this year,” Darius Šulnis said.
INVL Emerging Europe Bond Fund
The value of investments in the INVL Emerging Europe Bond Fund at the end of September was EUR 6.4 million, with EUR 1.7 million of units of the fund having been redeemed (the money was used for the investment in Moldova). The fund’s unit value has fell 4.1% in three quarters of the year due to an unfavourable situation in emerging market bond markets.
Other investments
In early October 2018, an international consortium which comprises the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Invalda INVL and Horizon Capital, and which acts via the UK-based company HEIM Partners, won an auction for the sale of a stake in Moldova-Agroindbank (MAIB), Moldova’s largest commercial bank.
HEIM Partners offered 451.533 million Moldovan lei (23.031 million euros) for 41.09% of the shares of MAIB. MD Partners, which is owned by Invalda INVL, and the EBRD each owns 37.5% of the shares of HEIM Partners, while the private equity manager Horizon Capital holds the remaining 25%.
“The MAIB deal represents a chance to invest in a leading bank in a growing country. It was attractive both to us and to some of our clients who tolerate a large investment risk. Abiding by our policy of investing together in the products we provide, Invalda INVL allocated EUR 4.7 million to this project,” Darius Šulnis said.
Invalda INVL currently owns 100% of MD Partners, but once permission of the Moldovan central bank is obtained, 48.64% of the shares of MD Partners will be owned by the INVL Special Opportunities Fund, in which clients of INVL Asset Management have invested.
A meeting of shareholders of MAIB in late November adopted the decision to pay out dividends of 221 Moldovan lei (about 11.3 million euros) and also elected the bank’s new supervisory council.
Invalda INVL owns 6.79% of the shares of NASDAQ Vilnius-listed Šiaulių Bankas, the value of which at the end of September 2018 was EUR 18.45 million (for a nine-month gain of EUR 0.5 million, including dividends).
“The general situation in the markets has taken a toll on Šiaulių Bankas’s share price, which is down significantly. We see Šiaulių Bankas’s growth and very good results, which we hope should also be reflected in its share price,” Darius Šulnis said.
At the end of the third quarter, Invalda INVL held a 36.9% stake in the agribusiness company Litagra, which was valued at EUR 9.9 million (over nine months the change in value was minus EUR 75 000).
“Focused on primary crop production, Litagra continues to invest, increasing its production capacity, efficiency and potential,” Darius Šulnis said. In the fourth quarter, Litagra conducted a share buy-back in which Invalda INVL did not participate and as a result its share of voting rights in the company rose to 41%.
The value of the Inservis group, meanwhile, was EUR 2.6 million at the end of September and the loss on this investment in nine months of the year, including dividends, was EUR 0.45 million. “We’ve made changes in the management which we hope will positively impact the company’s operations and growth,” Darius Šulnis said.
The value of other investments as at the end of September 2018 totalled EUR 1.2 million.
Invalda INVL, operating since 1991, is one of the leading asset management groups in the Baltic countries. Companies the group owns in Lithuania and Latvia manage more than 20 mutual and pension funds (2nd and 3rd pillar), alternative investments, individual portfolios, private equity, private debt and other financial instruments. The group’s companies have more than EUR 650 million of assets under management, entrusted to them by over 190 000 clients in Lithuania and Latvia as well as international investors. The shares of Invalda INVL have traded on the Nasdaq Baltic securities exchange since 1995.