FINWIRE®

Colliers International Announces Large Size Transaction in Real Estate Market in the Baltic States

March 5th, 2008

Colliers International has reached an agreement between the developer, holding company LNK, and Nordea bank Latvia about accommodation of the bank’s headquarters in Aloja Business Centre, leasing out 7000 sqm office premises.

The new A class office building will be located in one of the most dynamic business centre areas in Riga at the crossroads of Kr. Valdemara and Alojas streets (Latvia, the Baltic States).

It is planned that more than 400 employees of Nordea bank Latvia will start working in the new office in the second half of 2009.

The 6-storey building will comply with the highest A class office standards combining modern technologies, environment-friendly solutions and modern architecture.

Nordea bank Latvia Manager Valdis Siksnis: “Nordea bank is one of the most quickly developing banks in Latvia.

During the past few years we have substantially outpaced the average growth indicators of the banking market.

It has also been reflected in the number of our employees, which has doubled in the past two years.

At the moment, we work in a team of 500 professionals, of which more than half are located in various buildings in Riga on weekdays.

For this reason the choice of a modern and functional office building is a quite natural necessity.

The most important criteria of our choice for this project are the following: convenient access for employees and clients, functionality in combination with high-class architecture and environmental friendliness.

A substantial factor also is the possibility to extend office premises in the same complex in future.”

Chairman of the board of LNK company Aleksandrs Milovs: “For the last five years the department of real-estate project development of LNK has been successfully realizing an iQ Projects programme that foresees industrial, trade, residential and office building construction for the further lease and sales of the premises.

The letters iQ are short for intelligent quality, with this principle designating its action and projects, including Aloja Business centre presented recently.

We are honoured that such an iQ leader in the financial and banks technologies as Nordea bank has chosen our business centre in particular as its prospective head office.

We are sure that together with architect office Sarma&Norde we will be able to create a product of 21st century deserving such a partner as Nordea.”

Architect Visvaldis Sarma of the architect bureau Sarma&Norde: “The architectonic solution of Aloja Business centre results from the aesthetic and ethical goal to create a functional and high quality A class office building, at the same time solving typical modern problems – global warming, saving power resources and ecologic thinking.”

Colliers acted as the broker of the deal. The managing partner of Colliers International in the Baltic States and Belarus Mihails Morozovs says: “This is one of the largest transactions in the commercial real estate field in the region of the Baltic States, and it starts a new development phase in the market of office lease.

The standards and requirements brought forward by both parties were a great deal higher than the average on the market.

The signed lease contract confirms the fact that the market of Latvian office premises is growing not only in quantity but also in quality.

Colliers team is proud of having a possibility to actively participate in this deal and bring international as well as local level knowledge during the process of structuring this significant deal.”

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