Commentary on a news article published in the media on 11 May 2017 regarding a criminal case against real estate agencies


On 11 May 2017, Estonian magazine Postimees published an article “Real Estate agencies’ attack against kv.ee lead to a criminal case”.

Hereby we disclose the following facts in connection with the article:

·         AllePal OÜ’s (i.e the company which owns kv.ee) services were used by Arco Vara AS’ 100% subsidiary Arco Real Estate AS that provides real estate brokerage and evaluation services in Estonia. Arco Vara AS has no connection with AllePal OÜ or real estate portal kv.ee, therefore only Arco Real Estate AS could hypothetically be connected to the alleged criminal case, not Arco Vara AS or any other company in Arco Vara group;

·         the turnover of Arco Real Estate AS constitutes ca 10% of Arco Vara group’s consolidated turnover;

·         Arco Real Estate AS stopped using the services of real estate portal kv.ee in connection with repeated and significant price increases, which were not acceptable;

·         neither prosecuting authority nor any other investigative body has contacted Arco Real Estate AS or any other company in Arco Vara group in connection with the alleged criminal case. Currently it is unknown whether the criminal case concerns Arco Real Estate AS at all and if a suspicion will be presented against Arco Real Estate AS. In case the alleged criminal case really has been or will be initiated, Arco Real Estate AS is willing to cooperate with the investigative bodies, taking into consideration aforementioned information.

 

         Evelin Kanter
         Head of Legal Department
         Arco Vara AS
         Tel: +372 614 4594
         evelin.kanter@arcovara.ee
         http://www.arcorealestate.com