The aggregate purchase price for the Transaction is €207.4m, to be settled using NEPI’s existing cash resources. Upon closing of the Transaction, Hansa and CEE will become subsidiaries of NEPI. The Company will ensure that there are no provisions in the constitutional documents of either Hansa or CEE that will frustrate or relieve NEPI from compliance with the JSE Listings Requirements.
Serdika Center is a modern shopping centre in Sofia with a strong fashion-oriented tenant mix, targeting a customer group with above-average income, which, together with its excellent location (approximately 3 km southeast of the city centre), represent its competitive advantage. The catchment area of 379,000 inhabitants within 15 minutes includes residential districts with excellent transportation links (such as a tram line stopping in front of the centre).
The centre opened in 2010, has a Gross Lettable Area of 51,468 m² and is 99.3% let. It has a diverse tenant mix including numerous international tenants such as Adidas, Benetton, Bershka, Billa, Cropp, Converse, Deichmann, Desigual, Forever 21, H&M, House, Intersport, Massimo Dutti, New Yorker, Nike, Orsay, Pull&Bear, Reebok, Replay, Reserved, Sport Vision, Springfield, Stradivarius, Tally Weijl, Tom Tailor, Tommy Hilfiger, Timberland, US Polo Assn, Yves Rocher and Zara.
Sofia is the capital of Bulgaria with over 1.32 million inhabitants, and the economic and cultural centre of Bulgaria. During the last couple of years, Bulgaria’s economy has shown robust growth, with GDP growth of 3.6% in 2015 and 3.3% in 2016. According to European Commission forecast data, growth is expected to be 2.9% and 2.8% for 2017 and 2018, respectively, compared to expected growth of 1.4% and 1.5% respectively in the European Union. The continued economic growth has an increasingly positive impact on the unemployment rate, which is expected to decrease to 6.4% in 2018.
