NEPI invests EUR 20 mln to turn Shopping City Sibiu into Romania’s biggest mall

South-African investment fund NEPI will invest EUR 20 million in expanding Shopping City Sibiu, a mall it acquired for EUR 100 million this summer. When this investment will be completed, Shopping City Sibiu will have some 90,000 sqm of retail space, which will make it the biggest mall in Romania. The shopping gallery will be reconfigured and a new 11,000-sqm level will be added, which will include 50 new retail spaces plus an entertainment and restaurant area. The mall will also have a multiplex cinema. The developer will also revamp 40,000 sqm of retail space and change the whole look of the shopping center. Shopping City Sibiu currently has a gross leasable area of 79,100 sqm. Its tenants include hypermarket chains Auchan and Carrefour, DIY retailer Leroy Merlin, sportswear retailer Decathlon, furniture retailer Mobexpert, electro-IT retailers Altex and Flanco, and fashion retailers such as C&A, H&M, New Yorker, Deichmann, and Humanic. NEPI has finalized two new malls in Romania this year, in Timisoara and Piatra Neamt, and the extension of its mall in Constanta. Next year, the developer will continue its fast development pace with a new mall in Ramnicu Valcea and an extension of its mall in Galati. NEPI is the biggest mall owner in Romania. Its biggest local investments include the Mega Mall in Bucharest, a greenfield investment worth EUR 165 million, which was inaugurated in 2015, and Promenada mall, which NEPI purchased last year for EUR 148 million. The fund’s net assets totaled EUR 1.76 billion at the end of September 2016. NEPI’s main competitors in Romania include AFI Europe, the owner of the AFI Palace Cotroceni mall, Baneasa Developments – owner of Baneasa Shopping City, local investor Iulian Dascalu, who owns several shopping centers under the Iulius Mall brand, Anchor Group, and S Immo. editor@romania-insider.com