Investment fund NEPI to raise EUR 100 mln for Romanian Promenada Mall acquisition, buys new land plot

South-African real estate investment fund New Europe Property Investment (NEPI) will raise another EUR 100 million new capital via an accelerated book build (ABB) to finance the acquisition of the Promenada Mall in Bucharest, Romania, and other future projects, the fund announced on Monday. The offer will take place simultaneously on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange. NEPI signed the acquisition of Promenada Mall from Austrian group Raiffeisen Evolution at the end of October, for a total of EUR 148 million. Primenada Mall was opened in October 2013 and is located in Bucharest’s busiest office district. The mall has a gross leasable area of 40,300 sqm and generates an estimated EUR 10 million in rents each year. NEPI also acquired a 1.2-hectare land plot near Promenada Mall where it plans to develop an extension of the mall which will be integrated with a new class A office building, NEPI announced on Monday, November 24. NEPI is the largest real estate investor currently active in Romania. The fund had net assets of EUR 990 million, as of September 30, 2014, and made a net profit of EUR 42 million, in the first nine months of this year. NEPI currently has a market capitalization of EUR 2.28 billion. Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com