YIT signs an agreement to sell newly built REHAU facility in Lithuania to Hili Properties

The Malta-based investment management company Hili Properties signed an agreement to acquire a built-to-suit industrial-type property in the Klaipeda Free Economic Zone from Finnish developer YIT. The size of the deal is confidential. Newsec in the Baltics represented YIT in the transaction.

The property is situated in Lithuania’s Klaipeda FEZ, where more than 100 companies from 18 countries now operate. The total area of the building is approximately 19,000 sqm, which includes 13,000 sqm of production, 4,500 sqm of warehouse space, and 1,000 sqm of administrative premises.

The property will be fully completed by the end of 2021 and will feature BREEAM Very Good certification. It is single let for 20 years to REHAU, a German manufacturer of polymer-based products.

“The REHAU built-to-suit facility was developed by YIT in light of REHAU’s needs as the tenant. This project is a good example of the growing re-shoring trend. As a result of Covid-19 supply chain disruptions, many Western tenants are moving their operations closer to their home markets and especially to the CEE region. Lithuania, as an investment destination, is very well placed to accommodate such needs,” says Andrius Švolka, the Head of Transactions at Newsec in the Baltics.

Švolka notes that logistics and industrial (L&I) properties are in great demand among both local and foreign investors as markets currently lack quality L&I products with long leases.L&I yields in the Baltics have compressed by 100-150 basis points over the last 18 months and there is excess liquidity in the market chasing L&I deals, especially core assets. It is clearly a seller’s market today, so we encourage owners to look into possibility of offloading L&I assets from their balance sheets and to consider more built-to-suit projects,” he says.