Gintaras Rutkauskas will lead Evernord Asset Management
"Gintaras Rutkauskas, an expert in managing multifaceted investment portfolios and modelling investment strategies with many years of experience, has joined Evernord Asset Management, the investment management company of the Evernord Group. The new director joins the Evernord team and expects that his expertise will enable him to offer an even wider range of investment opportunities to Lithuanian private and institutional investors.
Rutkauskas' nomination to head Evernord Asset Management was approved following an impeccable reputation assessment of managers and key function holders of financial market participants supervised by the Bank of Lithuania.
"I am ready to bring to Evernord my experience in managing institutional investor portfolios with a longer investment horizon and a balanced risk-return profile. We will continue to seek synergies between the Evernord Group companies, leveraging our strengths and expanding the range of services and products offered to investors. We want to provide them with a broader range of investments than just real estate, generating a steady cash flow and returns that are acceptable to investors, while being mindful of potential risks," notes Rutkauskas.
"Last year saw record growth in the number of new Evernord clients and the successful completion of a number of major investment projects, which has encouraged us to significantly strengthen our team. Gintaras' decision to join the Evernord Group confirms that we have earned not only the trust of investors, but also the respect of the biggest professionals in the market. Evernord will soon be launching several important major projects, which will help us meet the most important investor needs and market trends," says Jolanta Jurga, founder of Evernord Group.
According to Rutkauskas, a new high-yield bond fund, Evernord Bond Fund, will be launched soon, with the aim of helping investors diversify their risks by spreading their investments both geographically and sectorally, as well as capturing attractive interest rates before the central banks start to cut them.
Another planned product is the development of luxury real estate in Spain with local partners. With this fund, Evernord is responding to investors' interest in diversifying their investments geographically.
Prior to joining Evernord Group, Rutkauskas was Head of Investment at Lietuvos apdrošināšanas in the Baltic States. During his three-decade career, Mr Rutkauskas has had access to a wide range of financial instruments - currency transactions, equities, bonds, and managed a real estate development investment project. He has managed investment portfolios for insurance companies in countries such as Poland, Latvia, the Czech Republic, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Saudi Arabia.
https://www.vz.lt/verslo-valdymas/2024/04/16/evernord-asset-management-vadovu-tapo-g-rutkauskas
Evernord expands new customer base to record levels
Evernord, the investment and wealth management group, was involved in the financing of €64 million of projects in 2023. Evernord's management describes the past year as a unique period, with a favourable economic cycle in the investment market, a growing corporate bond market, and attractive financial returns for projects that attracted investors' attention. "Evernord's clients invested EUR 98 million in various projects last year.
Last year, Evernord was involved in 23 financial projects and significantly expanded its client base, with 178 new clients taking an interest in the company's projects last year. The number of new clients increased by 122% compared to 2022.
"2023 was a very exciting year in terms of the opportunities we were able to offer our clients. We can safely call the increase in the number of new clients a breakthrough year, thanks to the focus and proactivity of our team and the variety of investment projects that attracted the attention of investors. Last year, we recorded a significant growth in sales of Evernord's products - 78%", - notes Vismantė Šepetienė, Director of Evernord FMI.
She adds that Evernord has successfully capitalised on the growth of the corporate bond market in Lithuania: "The economic environment has made it more expensive for companies to borrow, and investors have been able to lock in high annual returns. The perception of companies that borrowing is not only from the bank but also on the bond market is growing, but there is still room for the corporate bond market in our country to grow further compared to other developed countries."
"In addition to real estate-linked bonds, Evernord last year offered investors debt securities in other sectors, including two renewable energy projects, bond issues by debt management firm Legal Balance and utility company Civinity, and a bond placement by Eleving Group in conjunction with an international consortium of bond underwriters.
In addition, last year Evernord raised around €16 million in investor funds through four further rounds of Marijas 2 bond issues. These funds are financing the construction of the Novira Plaza Riga business complex in the centre of Riga, in which Evernord Asset Management has a majority stake.
Funds for business development
Financial brokerage firm Evernord has raised €2 million in investor funds for the company's business development with another bond issue by debt management company Legal Balance. In more than three years of cooperation, Evernord has already issued a total of 12 Legal Balance bond issues, including this latest one, raising €11.255 million in investor capital.
Legal Balance is using the funds raised by the bonds to expand its business, both by investing in its past due portfolios and by expanding in foreign markets.
Evernord's share of Legal Balance's bond issues totals 52.9% of Legal Balance's total active issuance.
"When we started working with Legal Balance in the early 2020s, there was still a lack of detailed justification in the market that bond issuance was a viable and efficient source of funding to achieve strategic business objectives and reduce dependence on traditional bank financing. The situation has now changed, with a particularly pronounced change last year, when bond investors were able to secure attractive returns for a desired period of time. Seeing how successfully Legal Balance is strengthening its market position, we can be pleased with its long-term efforts and continue to create significant value for both the company and investors," notes Vismantė Šepetienė, Director of Evernord FMI.
Four Legal Balance issues worth EUR 1.8 million invested by Evernord clients have already been redeemed. The value of the active issues issued by Legal Balance and underwritten by Evernord currently amounts to EUR 9.3 million.
"Legal Balance's partnership with Evernord is not only a long-standing one based on trust and excellent results, but also a strategic partnership that has enabled our firm to make significant strides in expanding our business and significantly growing our investments in the past due portfolio. The partnership with Evernord not only allows us to become one of the market leaders in Lithuania, but also to significantly strengthen our position in Latvia and expand into Poland. We are pleased to have built trust among our partners through our sustainable and consistent work, which is evidenced by our moderate, sustainable and confident growth," says Marius Šlepetis, Director of Legal Balance.
Among other long-term projects that have achieved ambitious goals through regular bond placements, Evernord's V. Šepetienė highlights the nine phases of Marijas 2's bond placement. Marijas 2 is majority-owned by the Evernord Group, and in the short time it has been issuing bonds, Marijas 2 has become both a publicly listed company on the First North stock exchange and is already completing the development of Novira Plaza, a modern business complex in Riga.
Which direction should we steer investments in 2024?
"The goal of the Evernord team is to see what products are missing from investors' portfolios and to offer the opportunity to complement them," said Jolanta Jurga, founder of Evernord Group, at an investor event on Thursday.
Kim Pessala, Managing Director of our partner Finnish investment bank #EVLI Bank Plc. is a welcome speaker at the annual event.
Some insights from Kim's presentation:
- According to #Evli Bank's baseline scenario, the US will avoid recession this year and maintain GDP growth of up to 2%. Europe's economic health will recover slowly, while China's growth slows down especially due to the "brakes" on the property sector;
- A moderate return of 7-10% on equities is expected, driven by earnings growth. #Evli professionals prefer US equities with strong earnings potential to their European and emerging market counterparts, which are undermined by Chinese equities;
- European high-yield debt returns are forecast to return to the 6-8% range.
Evernord would like to thank event speakers Kim Pessala and Novira Capital partner Arle Mölder for presenting the investment outlook in the Marbella region of Spain. And of course to all the guests - when the room is full, the inspiration to find new investment projects that create financial success grows even more!
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7163917366018445312
„Fjord Bank“ bond issue: €2 million raised
The financial brokerage firm Evernord has made a private placement of EUR 2 million of subordinated bonds with a maturity of 10 years from the Lithuanian specialised Fjord Bank. The issuer took this step in order to support the growth of its loan portfolio and the related regulatory capital requirements.
The Fjord Bank bonds issued have an annualised yield of 14 %. The bonds mature on 28 February 2034 and will pay interest to investors quarterly.
"This joint project between Evernord and Fjord Bank was in line with investors' expectation to capture higher returns over a longer period. It was a great opportunity for investors to further diversify their portfolios, and we received a lot of attention. Fjord Bank's clear business strategy, strong and consistent steps towards its strategic goals allowed us to establish a partnership based on mutual trust," notes Vismantė Šepetienė, Director of Evernord FMI.
"Fjord Bank is currently growing its loan portfolio at a rapid pace, and to support this growth and the associated regulatory capital requirements, we have decided to issue subordinated bonds. Equally important was the aim to issue bonds for the first time in the domestic market - Lithuania. After discussing the possibilities of cooperation with the Evernord team, the whole process started to run quickly, smoothly and professionally, and resulted in a positive outcome for Fjord Bank, as the full amount was raised as planned. We are grateful to the Evernord team and the investors for their trust and support", says Veiko Kandla, CEO of Fjord Bank.
"Fjord Bank" is a specialised fully digital consumer finance bank licensed by the European Central Bank and supervised by the Bank of Lithuania. The bank launched its digital consumer finance and time deposit products in 2021 and today offers its services in 5 countries - Lithuania, Estonia, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. The bank is headquartered in Vilnius and is majority owned by a group of investors of Norwegian origin.
€5.5 million more for the finishing works of Novira Plaza
Financial brokerage firm Evernord and its partners have completed the ninth bond issue of Evernord Real Estate Fund III and Marijas 2 SIA, a company managed by Estonian development company Novira Capital. In total, almost EUR 43 million of investor funds were raised in nine bond placements. The bonds finance the construction of the Novira Plaza Riga business complex in the centre of Riga, in which Evernord Asset Management has a majority stake.
Demand for the bonds in this placement was higher than expected and a decision was taken to increase the amount of the 9th placement from EUR 4.5 million to EUR 5.5 million. The funds raised will be used for the final construction works of the Novira Plaza Riga commercial complex.
The bonds issued by Marijas 2 SIA have an annual yield of 9%. The bonds mature on 30 May 2024.
"Although the placement could be safely described as a bond marathon in terms of its duration and the number of stages, the process was very smooth, and the "when-needed" issuance model was closely integrated into the construction stages of the business centre. Investor feedback shows that they also find this type of financing transparent and logical," noted Vismantė Šepetienė, Director of Evernord.
Novira Plaza will be fully completed this quarter and interior fit-out work is currently underway. About 60% of the space is expected to be leased in the first quarter.
"Novira Plaza is a modern Class A business centre in the heart of Riga. The business complex is characterised by sustainable solutions, abundant green spaces and advanced infrastructure suitable for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers. The new business centre offers tenants the flexibility to plan the layout of workplaces. The developers are aiming for LEED Platinum certification in the first year of the building's operation.
"The co-working spaces in Novira Plaza Business Centre will create 250 jobs for entrepreneurs, freelancers, start-ups and companies looking for a flexible and dynamic working environment. Lease agreements with the business complex have already been signed by well-known companies operating in the Baltic States, including PwC Latvia, SIA Wolt Latvia and GoCardless.
