Afternoon. This is Tarmo Karotam, Fund Manager of Baltic Horizon Fund, and I'm happy to present Baltic Horizon's last year's interim results, talk about last year and the challenges that we had, also the view forward and also an overview of the portfolio as usual. Let's kick this off. I'm planning about 30-40 minutes to present. There is a question box where one can also list questions. Hopefully, I'm already able to answer some of them during the presentation. Okay. A notable event for us last year.
Overall, it's been a very busy year, and we have continued with our previous engagements, continued to complete Meraki, the business center in Vilnius next to Domus Pro, that we have already started in 2020. I'm happy to say that the first tower is almost finished, and we have already several tenants signed up that are looking to open their premises also in spring. Currently, we have aimed to complete only the first tower and with the underground parking. I was also able to visit it now a couple of weeks ago. It's great. It's a great extension of the Domus Pro complex, definitely.
Looking forward to open the doors there now in the springtime. We have continued to be rated by S&P Global Ratings. The rating agency has maintained a MM3 rating for us during the COVID period. One of the stronger and the larger real estate groups commercial groups in the Baltic States. Last year the main change also for our portfolio was the review and processing of the property management partners.
We brought on board CBRE Baltics as our new property management and accounting services partner, which we believe will provide us more pan-Baltic and regional sort of understanding of how to best develop and manage our properties on a daily basis. We're so far. The change was first of September, and the takeover has been quite smooth. We're very happy with what we see right now, and we continue to develop our property management module, also data gathering analysis. That's definitely one of the priorities for Baltic Horizon going forward. I think one of the main key events last year was also selling of the G4S property.
I've already commented on this in various occasions before. For the record, we held this property for more than five years. It was the first property we bought after we were listed on stock exchange 2016 July. When we were reviewing our portfolio then, we thought that this property could be one that we could sell because of the retenanting expected to happen in next year and this year. The investment that we considered to need to be made for this building was quite considerable. Then we had also a direct interest from a local developer, very serious and very continued interest. Then with...
We made our calculations without any options and saw that it is best to sell the property, free up equity for our newer investments. This is also part of the plan of Baltic Horizon to renew its portfolio. Meaning that some of the buildings that we don't consider viable for us long term we will sell. New acquisitions are also planned of buildings that have much better quality on a long-term basis because that's what attracts the tenants. Then, of course, key...
One of the main, let's say events or topics of last year was of course related to our three large centrally located shopping centers that were forced to be closed beginning of the year, especially in Riga and Vilnius. To manage all the issues around that, to keep good relations with tenants, make plans for the future. We have progressed quite a bit with that, seeing new lease sign-ups in Europa and renewal of the concepts that are happening, but I'll talk about that a bit later.
As well, even though the environment is quite—let's say—uncertain still, you know, overall from my perspective as well, you know, it's quite an interesting period of time when, you know, we still have the pandemic as a force affecting everyday life still and some of our properties still. Then you have the geopolitical tensions in the region with Ukraine and Russia influencing the market and of course inflation, cost of energy and potential hikes in interest rates. So these are all what are on our minds and what we try to manage one way or the other.
I'll be also offering some insight of how and what we are doing to manage these risks. Still given that we are in an uncertain environment, we are considering a private placement at the right moment this year to continue our growth plans. This is a quick snapshot of the financial summary. As one can see, the gross asset value has been affected overall from the portfolio perspective and mainly the changes on valuations have been related to our two largest assets, Europa and Galerija Centrs. As well our net rental income has been affected by the major lockdowns last year.
We totaled about EUR 17 million of net rental income for the last year, several million less than what we should have made without any restrictions. It's clear to say that restrictions and closures, lockdowns have had a direct effect on some of our properties, especially on Galerija Centrs and Europa. We'd had to give quite a few rental discounts during this period of time. In Latvia, we were able to also get a support measure of around EUR 440,000 last year. For this first quarter, there is also second financial sort of incentive that we're aiming to get for the closures that happened last year.
All in all, that has affected, of course, as well our net asset value. What we have seen, and I think, this audience knows it already, themselves, that the restrictions are being lifted across Europe. Finally mentality has set in that we have to live with this virus and manage things better than just making lockdowns every three or four months. For this year, we do expect quite a few million EUR of recovery in rental income. That's solely because of the fact that hopefully our shopping centers are allowed to keep open their doors because that is the most difficult moment when everything is forced to be in shutdown.
Also our year-end valuations showed some recovery already, which we're quite satisfied about. The reasons for the recovery, two reasons. One is as well the positive view on rental income in our larger shopping centers. You know, where last year we had a drop in Galerija and Europa around 70%. So a major drop. Of course, it was influenced by the closure. We definitely aim to recover at least half of that now in the coming quarters. The second reason for the valuation gains was actually the very active commercial real estate market that has started to push down yields a bit.
Also for the office portfolio that we have near the city centers that are where lease agreements have been renewed especially in Duetto and many other buildings that we have. I would say I would look at the commercial real estate market quite positively regardless of the events what are happening. Because you know generally the economies of the Baltics across the pandemic years have been doing quite well. And especially well majority of the sectors apart from tourism and entertainment. But overall that has increased the average spending capacity of the people. Also the retail sales in general.
We do hope to capitalize ourselves now from this trend. What I foresee is that the footfalls of our shopping centers will recover more slowly than the turnovers. Meaning that people are willing to spend more and as the trend has been that the average purchases have increased considerably, and we continue to see this trend as well. Overall, you know, we are quite happy with the results and we can definitely say that there are positive expectations for the upcoming year in terms of continued activity in the commercial real estate sector. Of course, there are certain risks.
One question is about, you know, the new developments in the office segment and how quickly, you know, the supply will increase. Are some projects being postponed because in the office segment the demand is estimated to have definitely recovered, but not being like it was back in 2017 and 2018, when the demand for new office space was incredible. Going forward, definitely there will be growth in the office segment. There's also one, I think, notable news from last year was that in the Baltics, the...
If usually the commercial real estate transactions are about EUR 1 billion per annum, then it based on the first calculations by Colliers, it seems to be closer to EUR 2 billion. A lot of transactions in the retail segment. There's definitely belief in bricks and mortar. Also going forward in the retail segment, which is relatively mature in the Baltics, there's investments needed for concept changes and if investors do that correctly, then retail is a very interesting asset class going forward. I will talk about that a bit later as well, even more. Then overall we have now since the sales of G4S been looking for new acquisitions.
We have one or two investments in shortlisted. We have also evaluated the investment need in our own portfolio, especially regarding Europa Shopping Center concept changed and of course Meraki. Regardless of that, we have a strong cash buffer, and I think that's just something that one would rather need today than to invest every last penny, you know, into any new acquisitions. I think considering all of the uncertainty still around, you know, we're still relatively careful about, you know, maxing out the investments in the portfolio. However, still very actively looking for good opportunities.
Once we have also improved visibility in regards to these sort of regional aspects, then we will maneuver accordingly. We're quite comfortable with the position that we have today and are ready to attack when we do actually see a good opportunity out there. Overall, the portfolio valuations over the past two years have dropped, but there was a recovery definitely last year. We're still about 6%-7%, approximately, you know, from the previous peak and hopefully will regain some of that value during this year.
What needs to happen for that is definitely increase in occupancy in our shopping centers and definitely prolongation of the leases that we have and that we have been working on during the pandemic and continue to work with in upcoming years. We definitely see more opportunity here now than risk. When it comes to the financial debt structure, then we have about EUR 200 million worth of loans and equivalents. EUR 50 million bond maturing next spring in 2023.
As well, you know, since we have made several acquisitions over the years of 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, then the 4- to 5-year loans are now becoming renewable. We have been so far quite successful in renewing them. Just one comment about this slide is our strategy, and this is how we aim to, and have always aimed to manage the interest rate Euribor increase risk, is to hedge all of our loans, well, up to 80%. Eighty percent of our loans have been and will continue to be hedged in one way or the other.
When you ask about what I expect in terms of Euribor increase, then it's definitely more push for it than ever before. It's definitely a balancing act for the European Central Bank and how to manage the increased debt burden as well of the countries. They've also been quite straightforward that you know that's something that every country needs to worry about themselves. Their priority is to keep the inflation intact, and that's definitely a worry. It may be that we will see a positive Euribor already by year-end, but we have to really monitor the situation.
I don't expect an increase of up to 2 or 3% in 1 or 2 years' time. I think it will be definitely gradual. It's you know, the signals that ECB are sending when they are changing their focus is also something which will impact the market. It's not only about how much they will increase, but that they are you know, potentially considering the increase in Euribor. Then again, you know, nobody knows. We continue to prolong our loan agreements. And we have already reached an agreement with all of the counterparties for the loan agreements that are maturing in 2022.
We're already now looking at 2023, when some of the other loans that are becoming renewable, including our bond. We'll be having as well shortly discussions with our main bondholders. The majority of the bond has been taken up by 2 of the largest Baltic pension funds. We'll be discussing you know how there is a way forward you know to rollover terms and so forth. We do have various options. We may consider as well refinancing some part of that bond even or the entire bond with bank loans. That all remains to be seen now over the next 3-6 months.
We'll be working on the renewal of the loan portfolio. The banking sector seems to be on very strong pillars right now. What we have achieved also during even the difficult times, terms for example, prolongation of Galerija Centrs, are quite similar to what we had done before. Our priority is to maximize the amount of loans that are bullet loans so that we can keep generating the cash for the fund and for the investors. So far, we've been very successful in that. Dividends. You know, this has been a very important topic for us and for the investors.
I think our position today is definitely so that we have started to recover the rates of the payout rates. Since at least the uncertainty regarding the pandemic has stabilized, and the expectations are much more positive than a year ago. The ending of the lockdowns, opening of the centers and the travel should definitely positively affect our retail centers. I see that, you know, when we are signing new leases or renewing leases that tenants are ready now to sign. There are 5 new leases coming in Europa. The list of tenants is also for Galerija and Postimaja expansion is definitely there.
We're in negotiations trying to maximize the terms for us. We have made an uptick now in Q3 already paying out EUR 0.017 per unit and EUR 0.019. In Q4 we also recorded, if you look at the generated net cash flow, then we recorded the lockdown impact of Galerija Centrs. That's why the generated net cash flow is slightly lower than in Q3. We do expect some recovery definitely in this quarter and next. Hopefully, that is our base case to continue paying out stable stably increasing dividends over the upcoming quarters. Of course, every dividend decision is based on the most recent info.
It is difficult at the moment to forecast what the dividend will be for this year. I think based on the third and fourth quarter, one can see the trend. Just diving in a bit into the portfolio, since we sold the G4S property, Estonian allocation today is the lowest. Lithuania's allocation is the largest. Our focus for new acquisitions today is definitely Estonia and Lithuania. I would say in Latvia, we're currently satisfied with the portfolio that we have. But yeah, in Vilnius and Tallinn predominantly, that's where our focus is.
In regards to the top tenant list, G4S is not there anymore, but the rest of the tenants have remained virtually the same. If you look at these tenants, then the one that has slightly decreased their premises during the pandemic is Lithuanian State Tax Inspectorate, giving back using their right to give back about 1,000 sq m of office space. We have already found a tenant for half of that that has been leased out and now in January. The other half we are fitting for short-term smaller tenants that we do also see much more demand in the office segment for shorter term premises and but slightly higher, you know, average square meter price.
That's also a new trend, I think. I also believe that co-working spaces will benefit now quite a lot from the let's say uncertainties or the more flexible needs of tenants going forward. It is not that we are planning to you know move into that space as an operator. Definitely you know for some of our office buildings we'll be looking for a co-working tenant in the future. Also some of the vacancies we plan to convert ourselves for sort of not full service co-working space but co-working space. These plans are not only in our office buildings but we're considering that also in our shopping centers when upgrading the concepts.
Overall, portfolio occupancy has remained quite stable at around 92%, especially office buildings. You know, if just to go over some of these properties, then in Duetto we were very successful in prolonging now the leases. In 2017, the property was built. Then there were five-year leases. 2022 is when many of them became renewable, and many of them have been renewed already. In Duetto II, the same. Then in Domus Pro, which is a complex currently of a small office building and a retail part, the only changes that have been there are in the shopping center area.
Some of the satellites, small satellites, closed down. We have some 1 or 2% vacancy there. We're looking for a larger tenant now for these premises in the Domus Pro shopping center. In office property, one tenant moved out to larger premises, but we had Narbutas take the vacancy. They moved into the vacancy. The office part is also now close to 100% leased out. In North Star, that's what I mentioned. The tax agency reduced their space by 1,000 sq m, which now has been partly already filled. We continue with the completion of Meraki office tower. For Europa, the concept change we started, I will.
There's a separate slide for that later on. In Upmalas Biroji, it's an office building in Riga. We have a major tenant there, SEB, and some of the other ones, Bosch and Johnson & Johnson. SEB has decided after a long process to move out to a new property to where they actually need even more space. Upmalas Biroji was a bit too small for them at the end of the day. They will be moving out next year, 2023, beginning of the second half, so after summer. We have started now the search for a new anchor tenant in Upmalas. Vainodes property, no changes there actually.
Latvijas valsts meži, the state forestry company, they had a subtenant, a pharmaceutical company, but that tenant moved out, so they took over the premises, so they are now 100% tenant in the property. In LNK Centre, the situation is also unchanged. We have two major tenants there, LNK Industries, the major construction company and Emergn, the IT company. Sky Shopping Center is a property that has performed very well during the pandemic. We have been in discussions on potential exit of this property. Our expectations are quite high.
This discussion continues, but we do see that on short to medium term, when we get the right price, then we are willing to sell the small supermarket that we have in Riga. Galerija Centrs is our largest asset in the center of Riga, which has now been also opened for business. There was a lockdown in October for a month. We start to see more and more people coming also to the city center and old town. Of course, the recovery at the moment during this weather is relatively slow.
We are using this time as well to reconstruct the fourth floor to a food hall and do the similar thing that we have done in Europa quite successfully. We aim to complete the conversion of the fourth floor by September, ready after the summer holidays. That's something that Riga City Center hasn't seen before. We have interested food operators. I think it was eight or even nine. We are quite happy about that, to see the interest as well into the newly created premises. In Tallinn, we currently have four properties. When you ask about Üstmaa and Coca-Cola Plaza, the preparation is continuing. We haven't stopped that process.
the turmoil in the construction pricing and overall tenant interest, we really want to maximize the potential here and not sign any not beneficial lease agreements for us. We are currently in difficult, let's say, moment still, that the construction prices are still fluctuating. The very positive is that we're negotiating with all top tenants, including the cinema, new lease agreements for 5 and with cinema even for 10 years. We definitely believe in the long-term potential here. In Lincona, we have mainly no changes. There was some small occupancy on the ground floor, which is a cafeteria space.
I think just last week we found a tenant there. They will be moving in, taking up that vacancy in the next month or two. If you know Lincona, then the ground floor is full of tenants that are in the business of interior design or interior sort of appliances. It will be another interior design shop coming to the building. In Pirita Center, the trend has been positive for the turnovers and visitors. We're also now discussing with MyFitness some of the upgrades for the second floor for their premises.
They really want to upgrade their premises to now attract, in a post-pandemic world, their customer base. Regardless of what news are out there, I can confirm that people are coming back to the cinemas and people are coming back to the sports facilities. Of course, nobody can wait, you know, for the restrictions also to end in Estonia. New Europa in Vilnius. On the left, you can see already the pictures of the open food hall. What we understand from customer feedback, it's been very positively welcomed. This area, if some of the older investors remember, used to be a Vapiano.
They were taking up to, I think, it was close to 1,000 sq m, a very large space. What we see also from the quality offering, but also from the revenue potential that this 1,000 sq m is now much better used. There are 10 outlets. I think there's 1 still to be opened. The most popular one is of course a burger and a pizza joint and then sushi bar. It has had a good start. It was opened end of January. On the right, there are still, you know, visualizations of the center, of the other areas.
On top is the Konstitucijos Boulevard and how to make that also more pedestrian-friendly, entice people to the shopping center, and below is the amphitheater on the other side of the shopping center that should and would address the growing need of flexible working space or a flexible gathering of people, you know, spending more time and meeting up. We definitely want to create Europa as a good meeting point. That's why our food hall is also called Dialogai, so a dialogue. That's the concept of Europa going to the future. It will still take a few months to fully get refurbished.
Also the other areas, the amphitheater, some of the escalators will be changed. We want to be fully ready by late spring, and hopefully then we'll also be able to have an official opening. Currently, there are still restrictions for that. Very much looking forward to the spring. I guess that has brought me to the end. That's a summary of what I've been talking about. You know, our focus is definitely on our centrally located shopping and service centers. Europa in the heart of Vilnius, where skyscrapers are still being built.
There is a lot of residential being built in the area, so definitely an increase in people in the area as direct customers for Europa. Also for Galerija Centrs's food hall, the fourth floor. We've seen the success of Europa's food hall. Food is the new fashion. We want to copy that also in Galerija Centrs to be a new destination point for not only the people living in the city center and working there, but also for tourists. Of course, preparation of the Postimaja reconstruction project. We probably will take the step-by-step, so Europa first, then Galerija Centrs, and then Postimaja as a larger project end of this year or early next year.
Yeah, as I mentioned, we do have cash for a new acquisition and looking for a good opportunity that would really suit our portfolio, a good quality object. Of course, focusing on sustainability issues, which means that, you know, with our ESG officer, Vasarė, we are mapping the data that we currently have. There's a lot of data on our centers. We have already upgraded the processes, introduced the green lease clauses and also invested into solar panels in properties that have been able to sustain them. Definitely this plan continues. Our longer-term target is to become net zero emissions.
We aim to achieve that by 2028 or 2030, the latest. The plan for that is in development, and we are making very heavy calculations how to achieve that. Absolutely with CBRE, you know, first thing that we wanna get done is, you know, get our vacancies filled again. There's definitely positive momentum there. I think you will see that after the Q1 results are out. Hopefully restrictions will be history. You know, the society has to manage the process, the virus and everything that is related to it in a different way. Considering still some of our disposals like Sky, maybe one property more, we're analyzing that.
Last but not least, the new website is coming, where we want to make it more dynamic. We have seen the feedback of some of the investors that we need a more dynamic website that has more regular communication on even the smaller things that we are doing. As of also last spring, we have a new chief marketing officer on board, Charlotte from Denmark, and together with our small marketing team and communication team, we're giving our best to match the info expectations of the investors. Last but not least, if one looks at the stock exchange, then our unit price has not yet recovered.
I believe it is because of the uncertainties around the lockdowns. It is also interesting to see that our fund is one of the most traded securities in the Baltic stock exchanges, and with a total turnover of close to EUR 30 million last year. That has increased every year since we got listed back in 2017. In 2016 and in 2017 you can see that the turnover was around EUR 8.8 million-EUR 8.7 million. Definitely lots of trading happening on a stock exchange.
I do hope that with understanding of our plans and the recovery of our shopping center NOIs, the investors will see the potential. That's definitely, in my opinion, going to happen, further recovery this year already. Let me see if I have any questions. Okay, quite a few. The question on the NAV and when compared to another real estate fund, EfTEN's third fund, which is listed in Tallinn as well, how come their NAV has risen more? I think the answer there could be that their valuations they haven't had major drops in valuations because of their assets, even in secondary cities, and it's been more stable.
The other thing is that we have paid out, you know, quite a bit of our net cash flow, which is also increasing the NAV during the pandemic. If you compare the payout ratios, then I think even during the pandemic, we paid out an attractive dividend. That also decreases the NAV. So we want to rather pay out more dividends than less dividends, also going forward into the future. The question on Galerija Centrs loan terms, what I can say is that actually the margin was the same when we prolonged it.
there were certain other conditions that we had to renegotiate with the bank, and that was related to certain guarantees and other things. I would say overall quite similar terms we were able to prolong. the question on the developments happening in Tallinn and Porto Franco, the Liivalaia Quarter, there's a lot of commercial real estate being developed. I think definitely that would enliven the city and provide new office space and commercial space. the question is that would it you know attract any of our tenants to these areas?
I would say that if you look at the asset base that we have currently in Tallinn, I think, you know, if you look at Pirita Shopping Center, so they're definitely very specific tenants that want to be there. Like we have a wine shop, you know, a pizza place, post office, gym. I don't think, you know, that's any direct competition there. If you look at the Postimaja tenant base and Coca-Cola Plaza, the location of Postimaja is still very central, and it is still the busiest intersection in Tallinn. I don't see that going anywhere.
I think whatever is happening in the area and in the Rotermann area when new office building was finished, there's another, you know, 400 or 500, you know, employees that need food and services in the area. I think Porto Franco is definitely a complement to Postimaja and the cinema. Making the city center more attractive place to come to, not only for tourists, but people around. When it comes to our Lincona office building, then there are certain type of tenants there that, you know, have a good lease agreement with us at quite favorable terms.
If I look at these new developments, there's no reason really to develop unless you will ask at least 14 or 15 EUR per sq m for the office space as rent. I think it's a different segment of tenants. Overall, it is good to monitor the demand of the office tenants in Tallinn. I would say it's not absolutely robust, but definitely IT sector, information technology companies are growing and they need space.
I do hope that also with the help of the government, they are not moving their headquarters anywhere else because they definitely will give good demand for the commercial real estate segment and the office segment in particular. I would say these new developments, you know, they are being finished in the next two to four years. They will definitely have some impact on the market, but I think a positive impact, you know, there's more space for companies to grow into. The biggest challenge there is in Riga has been for a long time is that there hasn't been no new office space being offered. Tenants have looked, companies have looked for other solutions.
Now, in Riga, the new office space is almost 50% of what it is in Vilnius. So definitely, you know, it's a chicken and egg question, but I believe that the strong developers like Kapitel, if they complete their projects, that's definitely gonna be good for Tallinn commercial real estate segment in general. The question on the private placement and we're working on the private placement and we will see, you know, when we can execute. Today, you know, when speaking also to regional investors then it's a bit of a standstill due to the uncertainties in the geopolitical world.
It has definitely affected the view on some of the investors on the Baltic states. We'll continue to work with our current investors and new investors as well. Our cash position is quite good right now, so if we really do see the need for you know, additional capital in a larger amount then we'll continue to push this forward. It's difficult to give you any kind of specific dates, but probably not in the next one or two weeks. Yeah, the question of what else can we do in our portfolio? Can we do something in Pirita Center? We do have a plan actually to build the...
There are large terraces there on both sides of the property to include them in the space of MyFitness. We'll see how that goes. We're definitely looking for various options how to add value. Also end of last year, you know, I started with the team a project to see what else can we do in Lincona. You know, there's one part of the property is a four-floor building, which, you know, is quite an old part. In the area, there's, you know, quite a lot of new buildings coming that and have already been built, which are 8, 10, 16 floors. To see if there's any potential to rebuild that old part in Lincona.
We're always looking for ways how to create value. I think main focus is currently on our centrally located shopping centers. They are also the largest assets, so they're potentially the largest value drivers. In regards to new acquisitions, once more, we are not rushing it. We're definitely looking for the right asset for us, and we're looking for a brand-new office building either in Tallinn or Vilnius, or a well-located new logistics asset. That's our priority right now. We are in discussions with one specific property.
I expect that if everything goes well then we should be able to have a new asset in our portfolio after the summer. Europa reconstruction, the new brand concept, will be opened in spring, late spring, April or May. We'll have to see how to time it. There's a question on Meraki office building. We have one tower where we have about 7,000 sq m of leasable area. We have secured there already a clinic on a ground floor and iLunch as a lunch operator. Actually, iLunch is likely to. It's a new concept in Vilnius. It works very well. They are also replacing hopefully the cafeteria in the Duetto office building.
I cannot say more, but we're in discussions with two other tenants for larger premises. Now that, you know, one can visit the property and all the floors, then we expect the leasing to definitely speed up in the next quarter. There's a question on the forecast on the NAV of the fund by end of this year and by end of 2023. We have discussed this internally, of course, made various budgets and plans. I think to maybe give a higher view on this is that our primary goal is to regain the values that we have lost now during the past two years.
That's related mainly to the centrally located shopping centers. If the NAV was EUR 150 some million before COVID, then that's what we want to achieve by 2023. Half of that difference we want to achieve already by end of this year. That's the answer here. You know, we want to recover 50% of the lost value and the NOI by end of this year, and the remaining by the end of next year. There's a question on headwinds and tailwinds. Hopefully I did already mention some of them. I think if you talk about, you know, we talked about the headwinds, you know.
The issues that you know are still there. You know, geopolitical issues, you know, Euribor increasing and the pandemic still with its ending restrictions. I think tailwind I definitely see quite a bit of potential in our office portfolio. It is located near the city centers and I think eventually and at quite competitive rental levels. Eventually you know we have to keep the properties in good shape, maintain them well, sell maybe one or if we feel that you know it needs too much investment.
A good quality property near the city center, I think, has potential both in long-term rental growth if it's maintained well, but also some drop in cap rates because the top yields, as usual, first start to drop in the city centers. If properties are deemed too expensive, investors start to look a little bit around from the CBD areas. If you ask me, you know, what's the future for Baltic Horizon in one or two sentences, then it's focus on our city center assets. You know, extract maximum value out of them, make required investments for that.
Definitely keep a good portfolio of new, well-located office buildings in or near the city centers. We have today 8 office buildings. We definitely want to grow that. People are, let's say, slowly coming back to the city centers. The question is that when are the people coming back to the city centers? I think, you know, it's been talked about for a long time now that, you know, people, you know, some people, the home office has worked well. But for majority of the people with, you know, families and all the rest, you know, they want to still they prefer to have, you know, their private and professional life separated.
Plus, of course, companies are very much expecting, you know, people to come back to the offices, you know, to cultivate good corporate culture, good co-working, good teamwork, so all the rest of it. However, yeah, there will be more flexible working in the future. If you ask me when are people back, I think, you know, given that the restrictions are now history, then I think by after summer holidays, I would expect almost the same amount of people in the city centers that were there before that. If you've been to Stockholm lately, you know, then you see, you know, how I was there during December, not even during Christmas sales time, and it was still a big.
It was like a big party, you know. Restaurants were full, shopping was happening, you know, people were in the offices. I think it's a good sort of model to sort of deduce our future as well from. Now the final question is on the buyback. Are we considering buyback of fund units? Actually the answer there is we're definitely considering that. In order for this program to put in place, you know, there has to be certain processes.
I'm not saying that this is something we will for sure do, but we are definitely monitoring the unit price, which I personally believe is as well, you know, well below the NAV and the potential of the fund, so on a long-term basis. It may be the reason, you know, we may reason that, but I think if we decide to do that, it's one of the tools in our toolbox. It's a great value for the investors. If we decide to do that, then there will be a stock exchange announcement with all the details with it. Yeah, definitely something that we have talked about. Okay. Well, thank you very much for the questions. It's been a good hour.
Yeah, we'll continue with our plans as discussed. Any further questions, I'm always happy to consider them and answer over email. I prefer that very much. If there's a lot of forums out there, we cannot, you know, monitor all of them. Direct questions, you know, would be very good if something still remained unclear. Once again, thank you again, and let's be in touch.