Investments, Latvia, Real Estate

Kaamos has implemented projects in Finland and Georgia, and has by now sold its businesses in the two countries, said Buks-Vaivads. Kaamos has been considering entering the Latvian market for fifteen years, but until now the company had not met an active enough partner in Latvia.

"The Latvian market has very good prospects as it is lagging behind Tallinn and Vilnius markets by about five years, in terms of both prices and amounts. Furthermore, competition among developers in Latvia is not as fierce, and land prices are also lower," Buks-Vaivads told LETA.

Kaamos is currently implementing the Divi Krasti project in Kengarags neighborhood and will soon launch a new project in Agenskalns neighborhood, which has fallen behind schedule due to bureaucratic and legal hurdles. The company is planning to build approximately 300 apartments in Agenskalns. The largest apartment building will be 170 meters long.

Kaamos is also planning to build two twelve-story buildings in Mezaparks next year, with relatively affordable apartment prices.

"We are also looking at new land purchase opportunities as Kaamos is aiming to occupy 10% of the Latvian property development market, which in the case of Riga is approximately 200 apartments per year at the moment. We are planning to grow along with the market, so these could become 300 apartments annually in the medium term," said Buks-Vaivads.

He went on to say that Kaamos was hoping to achieve its goals in about two years, depending on how soon Kaamos buys new land plots and how long it takes for the company to have its projects approved. 200 apartments means to have four to five new projects approved each year.

In terms of financing, this means investing approximately EUR 20 mln annually in the apartment segment, said Buks-Vaivads.

"We are also planning to build commercial property for rent. Kaamos strategy is to build office buildings and keep them in the long term. We also have such plans for Riga. For instance, we built the Depo hardware store's building in Tallinn, we are the owner of the building, while Depo is the long-term tenant. We are actively looking for such cooperation opportunities in Riga also. We have the know-how and the capital for implementation of such projects," said Buks-Vaivads.

Kaamos Group is an Estonian property development, construction and wood processing company, established in 2002. The company has more than 270 employees in Estonia, Latvia and Belarus. Kaamos Group's turnover last year amounted to EUR 69 mln.