Biggest real estate investor in Romania borrows EUR 400 mln via bond issue

South-African real estate developer NEPI has raised EUR 400 million by selling unsecured corporate bonds. It will use the funds to refinance existing debts and for possible new acquisitions. The bonds have a maturity of 5.25 years and are due on February 2021. They carry a 3.75% fixed coupon. Moody's has assigned the bonds a provisional Baa3 rating (stable outlook) and Standard & Poor's has assigned a preliminary BBB- rating, both in line with NEPI’s corporate rating. The bonds have been placed “to a variety of institutional investors in Europe”, reads a NEPI report. In October the developer increased its capital by EUR 130 million by issuing new shares. It has used a part of the funds to refinance the acquisition of the Auchan Titan shopping center in Bucharest. That was the first acquisition carried out by NEPI in Romania this year as well as the first transaction after the fund changed its management team. South-African Martin Slabbert, the man who turned NEPI into the biggest real estate investor in Romania, left the company at the beginning of August. Romanian Alex Morar took over as CEO. editor@romania-insider.com