“Colliers International” will represent AS “UniCredit Bank” in Lithuania

Vilnius, September, 2008. "Colliers International", an international consultation company providing commercial real estate services" and AS "Unicredit Bank" Lithuania Branch, which belongs to "UniCredit Group" - one of the leading financial groups in Europe, signed a contract on representing an exceptional lessee under which "Colliers International" will look for prestigious 2.000 sq. m. class-A premises for the representation office of the bank in Lithuania. "Colliers" also works according to an analogous model in Latvia and looks for prestigious 3.500 sq. m. premises for the bank in Riga.

"Colliers International" will provide the service of representing the lessee - it is quite a new service in the market; the changed real estate market and increasing need for high-quality premises caused its rise. It is a complex service including several stages - analysis of the lessee's needs, market sector, location of the projects and possible offers, negotiation with developers, coordination of signing the contract between the lessor and the lessee.

"The circle of customers is developing constantly and "UniCredit Bank" is expanding. We want to be more easily accessible and closer to the customer; therefore, we are looking for modern premises satisfying both our and customers' needs as well as enabling provision of top-quality services," Gintaras Maželis, General Manager of the AS "UniCredit Bank" Lithuania Branch, stated.

According to Marek Kovalevski, General Manager in Lithuania and Belarus, "Today, the companies, which look for premises and especially those which enter new markets, find it difficult to understand which developer offers the best conditions, which office meets the requirements of the class attributed to it and whether the price really corresponds to the quality of the premises. Often, independent experts' opinion is needed as they may assess the advantages and disadvantages of a certain project in respect of the aspects important to the majority of lessees - location, communication and accessibility, relation between lease and quality, additional fees etc. Usually, international companies, which look for premises larger than 500 sq. m. or have exceptional requirements corresponding the business strategy of the company, use this service."

AS "UniCredit Bank" Lithuania Branch was established in January, 2007 (previously it was Vilnius branch of "Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank AG").

Year 2007 was the most challenging one to AS "UniCredit Bank". Aiming to establish itself in the Baltic market, AS "UniCredit Bank" created a new bank for the Baltic countries, the centre of which is in Latvia (Riga), offices - in Lithuania and Estonia, and which has got three branches for servicing customers in Latvia (Riga) and Lithuania (Kaunas and Klaipėda).

About "UniCredit Group"

UniCredit is one of the leading financial groups in Europe in respect of capitalization; it has presence in 22 countries where it has got over 40 million clients and approximately 10,000 branches as well as 180,000 employees; total assets of the Group amounted to € 1,018 billion on December 31st, 2007.

In the CEE region, "UniCredit" operates the largest international banking network with over 3,900 branches and outlets, where approximately 80,000 employees serve about 27 million customers. The Group operates in the following countries: Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine.

About "Colliers International"

"Colliers International" is a global alliance of independently controlled real estate companies with 293 offices in 61 countries all over the world, including the Baltic countries and Belarus. The company consults participants of the commercial real estate market on the issues concerning real estate, mediates while selling or renting offices, commercial or storage premises, provides services of property assessment, development of the concept of projects, and organizes market research. "Colliers International" manages over 80 million square metres of property in the world; the income of the company amounts to € 1.3 billion.