Update: Biggest mall owner in Romania wants to invest in revamping local train stations, says local official. Investor denies

Investment fund NEPI Rockcastle, the biggest mall owner in Romania, is willing to invest EUR 1.5 billion in modernizing several train stations in the country, a Transport Ministry official has told local publication Club Feroviar. Bucharest’s Gara de Nord and 15 other train stations in Romania could thus be modernized by NEPI Rockcastle through a public private partnership. The group will send a proposal in this sense to the Romanian government, according to the official. Update: NEPI Rockcastle representatives denied the information. "The project mentioned in the press, regarding the supposed 1.5 billion euros NEPI Rockcastle’s investment in modernizing some railway stations in Romania, is not one of the investment commitments currently undertaken by the company," the company said. "The NEPI Rockcastle Group communicates details of its purchases and its investment strategy in accordance with the capital markets rules where it is listed, the applicable corporate governance principles and the good practices of the real estate investment industry. In this regard, NEPI Rockcastle is open to reviewing any viable investment opportunities that are consistent with its investment strategy." NEPI Rockcastle is the biggest owner of shopping centers in Romania, with 24 local properties in its portfolio and a total surface of 726,000 sqm, which represents almost a quarter of the total modern retail stock in Romania, at the end of 2017. The group’s local retail portfolio generated EUR 116 million in rents in 2017. NEPI Rockastle sets opening date for EUR 40 mln mall in Northern Romania editor@romania-insider.com