South-African investment fund NEPI (New Europe Property Investments), one of the most active investors in Romania’s real estate sector, recently announced it will develop a new regional mall in Piatra Neamt, a city in Northern Romania.

The fund already purchased a 7.4 hectare plot of land in the Western part of the city, in July, and plans to build a mall with a gross leasable area (GLA) of 29,000 sqm, the fund announced in its half-year report.

This adds to ten other large projects that NEPI currently has under construction or in the pipeline, which are set to be launched in the next two years. The fund estimates total investments of more than EUR 500 million in these projects. The largest of these is Mega Mall shopping center in Bucharest, a 70,700 sqm mall in the Eastern part of Bucharest, in which NEPI will invest more than EUR 110 million (70 percent of the total EUR 160 million investment).

Other large developments are the construction of a 50,000 sqm mall in Timisoara, on a land that NEPI purchased earlier this year, with an estimated total investment of EUR 73.4 million. The fund will also invest some EUR 60 million to expand three of its malls, located in Constanta, Deva and Drobeta Turnu Severin.

Other large investments are in office buildings. NEPI owns 50 percent of The Office project in Cluj, the first phase of which is almost completed and should be completely rented by the end of the year. Two more office buildings will be built in this project, in which NEPI is associated with Romanian entrepreneur Ovidiu Sandor. NEPI also obtained the necessary permits to develop a 8,000 sqm office building in Bucharest, close to the Government’s building in Piata Victoriei, in which it will invest EUR 29 million.

The fund expects to have two projects inaugurated this year, Vulcan Value Center in Bucharest and Shopping City Targu-Jiu, following EUR 75.8 million investments.

The fund’s net assets at the end of June 2014 were EUR 875 million, 15.4 percent larger compared to December 2013 and 77 percent larger than at end-June 2013.

The fund had consolidated net revenues of EUR 28.5 million in the first six months of 2014, 63 percent higher than in the same period of 2013. NEPI’s net profit for the period was EUR 28.6 million, up by a third year-on-year.

NEPI is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange as well as on the London Stock Exchange and the Bucharest Stock Exchange. The fund has a market capitalization of EUR 1.64 billion, trading at an 87 percent premium to its net asset value.

Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Wikipedia)