South-African investment fund New Europe Property Investments (NEPI), the largest real estate investor in Romania by asset value, has merged with Rockcastle, another South-African fund with similar businesses operating in Poland.
The new company is now named NEPI Rockcastle.
NEPI’s market capitalisation is of about €3.4bn, whereas Rockcastle’s amounts to €2.2bn. Following the merger, the two companies estimate to have formed the largest real estate company in Central and Eastern Europe and one of the largest real estate retail companies in Europe.
Alexandru Morar and Spiro Noussis, the NEPI and Rockcastle CEOs, are joint Executive Directors General of the newly set company, while Dan Pascariu is Chairman of the independent non-executive board.
Rockcastle has most of its properties in Poland with assets amounting to €1.7bn. NEPI owns many properties in Romania and has expressed its intention to expand in the region, as it also owns assets in Slovakia, Serbia and the Czech Republic. Overall, the company’s assets amount to €2.5bn.
“NEPI investors will gain immediate exposure to a significant portfolio in Poland, the most liquid and largest real estate market in the CEE region, with a positive economic outlook. Rockcastle shareholders will gain exposure to the largest retail real estate portfolio in Romania (which is the second real estate market in CEE by size and the fastest growing economy in Europe in 2016 and 2017, according to IMF forecasts), and the second largest retail real estate portfolio in Slovakia,” NEPI said in a statement.
Following the merger, NEPI envisages building three new shopping malls in Ramnicu Valcea, Satu Mare and Novi Sad in Serbia and to expand the operating projects such as Promenada Mall in Bucharest and the retail parks in Braila, Drobeta-Turnu Severin, Galati and Sibiu.
