After evaluating the prospects of the industrial real estate market in November last year, BRAITIN registered at the Bank of Lithuania the rules of its fund, which is intended for informed investors, and within several months attracted its planned 9.5 million euros from 17 private investors.
“The Lithuanian furniture and lumber sector is one that we take pride in – it creates a fifth of the country’s exports, is receptive to innovations, mature, and, as it turned out, is resilient to various crises. We maintained an interest in furniture manufacturing for a number of years, and so given the opportunity to invest alongside the market leader VMG Group, we did not hesitate. It is a meticulously crafted and solid project, which I believe will generate value for both the VMG Group and the fund’s investors,” Rytis Davidovičius, a partner at BRAITIN, is convinced.
The factory is due to perform cabinet furniture manufacturing. In total, investment into the new furniture manufacturing factory will reach around 76 million euros, and will create around 500 news jobs.
“Last year, we already implemented a record-setting project in Akmenė. This allows us to build investor confidence with other projects being developed in this location. This strategic investment into the new cabinet furniture factory’s real estate is important to us because it will allow us to focus on innovation, increasing competitiveness, and generating new jobs,” says the investor, and sole shareholder of VMG Group, Sigitas Paulauskas.
Last year, in Akmenė FEZ, the company introduced the largest greenfield investment in the country’s history as the VMG Group opened one of the most powerful particleboard factories in Europe, drawing 146 million euros in investment and created 140 high added-value jobs. The group invested an average of a million euros into each high added value jobs in this project.
About BRAITIN
The real estate company BRAITIN is controlled by former banker Audrius Žiugžda (67 per cent of shares) and investment specialist Rytis Davidovičius (33 per cent). The company manages a real estate fund that holds managed property valued at over 60 million euros.
About VMG
The VMG Group is comprised of 25 companies, which employ over 4,500 staff. The companies’ production is exported to over 40 countries around the world.
