EIKA Asset Management (EAM), an investment management company managing funds worth EUR 180 million, plans to offer new investment opportunities to informed investors this year. Andrius Uždavinys, who became the CEO of EAM this year, reviews last year’s results that pleased investors, and also projects a long-term perspective for investors.
How do you see the company in 2024?
2024 was good for EAM’s operations. At the beginning of the year, like most managers, we had a significant challenge in attracting investor capital, but the second half of the year, due to significant EURIBOR corrections, brought the balance back to the private equity market and, thanks to the team’s great efforts, we managed to get closer to the company’s operational goals.
The funds we manage collectively invested more than EUR 67 million in 2024, making it one of EAM’s best years. Some of the planned investments have been moved to this year, which allows us to predict that we will make more investments this year.
We have also successfully expanded our offering of investment products – funds. We have established two new funds and offered investors the opportunity to invest in co-living segment, the Eika Co-Living Fund, and the Eika Private Equity Secondaries Fund I, a private equity fund that is somewhat removed from direct investments in real estate (RE). The latter Feeder The type of fund attracted investor interest because, in addition to the real estate funds we manage, we offered the opportunity to diversify investments by investing in the alternative collective investment undertaking StepStone Secondary Opportunities Fund V Europe Holdings, registered in Luxembourg.
It is also worth mentioning the process of obtaining a license for an alternative collective investment undertaking management company (AKISVĮ), which lasted throughout 2024.
What is the news on individual EAM funds?
There were also many joyful achievements in the activities of the individual funds we manage, crowning great teamwork. Eika Real Estate Fund sold its first investment, which went through the entire value creation cycle: the purchased old warehouse building was renovated, adapted to the needs of a new tenant and leased out under a long-term lease agreement, and the created value was realized upon sale.
Also at the end of 2024, the last remaining apartment in the project managed by Eika Residential Fund was sold, marking the end of the first EAM fund. This fund has achieved exceptional results – an average annual return for investors exceeding 30%. Investors in this fund publicly declare that EAM is one of the best investment managers in their managed portfolio, not only in Lithuania – this motivates us to strive for even more.
What are your plans for this year and the years to come?
Growth. Probably the word that most accurately describes our projected perspective. Over almost 10 years of EAM activity, we have accumulated a lot of experience both working in the residential segment in Vilnius and actively operating abroad. We are already a well-known name in the Polish commercial real estate market, as we have been actively operating there for the last couple of years. Awareness and the investments we make are opening more and more doors for us, so we will increase investments in this country.
Another direction of our growth with great potential is the establishment of an infrastructure fund, which we hope will begin investment activities this year. With this fund, we hope to sail into even broader waters, as there are many infrastructure projects in both Lithuania and Poland, and the size of these projects is often calculated not in millions, but in billions. We hope to be useful in the field of defense financing in Lithuania as well.
Successful development in neighboring Poland encourages us to move further West, we are already analyzing Germany. In the coming years, we also see ourselves in the commercial real estate market of this country, so we will be able to offer investors another alternative to deploy capital in one of the safest and economically strongest countries in the EU.
We will also invest in Lithuania, where we have accumulated many years of experience in developing residential properties, and the name of EIKA Group is a guarantee of quality for our investors. This provides an opportunity to invest in the best projects in Vilnius and thus not only contribute to the development of our city, but also earn a solid return. To achieve this goal, we plan to establish a new residential fund, which will offer almost 1,000 new apartments to the capital market in a few years.
How do you assess the sentiment in the private equity markets?
Positive. The significant decline in base interest rates that began in the second half of 2024 also brought stability back to the private equity markets. The prolonged high interest rates meant that short-term private debt instruments offered investors double-digit returns, which came close to the target returns of the funds we manage. Now the situation is fundamentally changing. The decrease in EURIBOR reduces the returns on debt instruments, but investors quickly got used to double-digit returns and do not agree to lower their expectations. Debt instruments offering double-digit returns, such as bonds, today have a significantly higher risk level than the funds we manage, which is why risk-aware investors are increasingly turning to private equity investments.
Lithuanian investor sentiment is positive. Lithuania, unlike other European countries, has weathered market fluctuations relatively calmly, and a significant portion of businesses have generated exceptionally good results. In addition, declining inflation and falling interest rates free up funds from core activities and can be directed to diversify investments into investment products.
“Invest” magazine, April 2025.