„The fund’s financial contribution will catalyse the strategic development of Kauno Baldai despite the unprecedented challenges of recent times – the global pandemic and the war in Ukraine. As a result, the company, which has demonstrated extremely rapid growth over the last few years, will work even more efficiently in new premises with modern equipment and will strengthen its position in export markets. Furthermore, having received timely and targeted VIVA financing and led by an ambitious team, Kauno Baldai has all the potential to become one of the top ten European producers of soft furniture,“ says Egidijus Valentinavičius, chairman of the board at Kauno Baldai.
The conversion project of Kauno Baldai’s buildings and the construction of the new 28,000 sq. m. factory is expected to be completed in the middle of next year.
„SBA Group has extensive experience in manufacturing, innovation development and investment management. The fund’s financing will provide more certainty in planning the company’s financial flows, allow the company to continue the planned investments in a targeted manner and achieve the set business goals faster. VIVA continues to consistently deliver on its commitment to invest as much as possible in the form of bonds, and we see this contract, the largest of the year so far, as a good example of a partnership between business and state-owned enterprises. The bond agreement is for a period of five years. The company will also have the possibility to repay the financing in full or in instalments before the agreed maturity without any restrictions,“ commented Dainius Vilčinskas, head of VIVA.
According to Mr Vilčinskas, the impact of the pandemic on business remains highly relevant, changing only the scale of the impacts. According to VIVA’s chief, at the moment, businesses are mainly dealing with the challenges of the high cost of raw materials, fragile supply chains and the uncertain continuity of business investments, while the war in Ukraine has only made the need for financial security and stability more acute.
„We see increased demand for upholstered furniture, with partners from Scandinavia, Benelux and Germany placing increasingly large orders. The new, modern factory and the sustainable solutions it has introduced to reduce environmental impact will help meet this demand. We plan that within 5 years, the annual sales of Kauno Baldai will more than double to almost EUR 70 million. The biggest challenge will be to move to the new premises without stopping the production processes,“ says Tomas Mauricas, the head of Kauno Baldai.
According to him, the number of employees will increase by a quarter to around 500 in a few years. The new premises will have the largest area for the production and an exhibition hall for products and an office for the administration. The construction manager of the Kauno Baldai development project is SBA company Notus Developers, and the contractor is YIT Lietuva.