ARTICLES LABELLED WITH TAG NEPI Rockcastle

AFI Europe Group contracted a €170 million loan from a consortium of banks consisting of Erste Bank Group, pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank, and Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR) to acquire NEPI Rockcastle’s office portfolio of in Romania.

AFI Europe, the owner of among others the largest mall in Bucharest, has completed the takeover of the portfolio consisting of four office projects from NEPI Rockcastle, in the most important office transaction in Romanian history. With a value of €307 million, the transaction through which NEPI Rockcastle, advised by Colliers International, sold four office projects to AFI Europe represents a third of the real estate investment market estimated at about €1 billion in 2020. The acquisition places Romania on the map of large strategic investors and has the potential to become a catalyst for significant new transactions in the future, being an important benchmark for local market liquidity and contributing to increasing investor confidence, according to Colliers International specialists.

AFI Europe NV has concluded a new agreement with NEPI for the purchase of 4 Class A office projects in Romania, with a total GLA of 118,500 sqm. The transaction value is of €290 million and the portfolio’s takeover is scheduled to be finalised within the next four months.   

NEPI Rockcastle and AFI Europe initiated arbitration proceedings in connection with the disputed matter of the sellers requesting the purchaser to pay the €15 million contractual guarantee and the purchaser contesting the validity of the sellers’ claim and requesting specific performance of the disposal, NEPI Rockcastle announced.

Developer NEPI Rockcastle completed the construction of the 39,800 sqm Shopping City Targu Mures project in Romania in Q1 2020. The opening was, however, rescheduled from the end of March to Q3 2020. The company is not launching new constructions until there is further clarity on the impact of COVID-19 on its operations.

With the easing of the strict governmental regulations in Budapest, NEPI Rockcastle Group, the owner of Arena Mall and Mammut Shopping and Entertainment Center is starting to get back to its usual operation. The company has introduced further safety measures in their Budapest shopping centres.

Subsequent to NEPI Rockcastle’s previous updates concerning the impact of the COVID-19 on its operations, there have been significant developments around the COVID-19 situation. As governments, national authorities and companies continue to implement rigorous measures, there is a high degree of uncertainty about the impact of this on the Group’s operations. As a result, NEPI Rockcastle withdraws its earnings guidance for 2020 and expects to provide an update when the Group will be in a position to estimate the effects of the current situation reliably.

As it was reported yesterday, the €300 million sale of NEPI Rockcastle’s Romanian office portfolio to AFI Europe has been suspended. In their separate announcements, the buyer claims that the completion of the transaction was impossible due to the COVID-19 related restrictions imposed by the authorities, while the seller insists that these restrictions did not prevent completion. The two companies have not reached a consensus on postponing the transaction’s deadline. NEPI Rockcastle has interpreted AFI Europe’s actions as a wish to cancel the acquisition and is now asking the company for a €15 million compensation.

The €300 million sale of NEPI Rockcastle’s Romanian office portfolio to AFI Europe has been suspended due to the coronavirus crisis, Profit.ro reports.

NEPI Rockcastle provided an initial update concerning the impact of the COVID-19 related government measures on its activities in an announcement dated 17 March 2020. Since that date, the authorities in Romania, Serbia and Croatia have increased the safety measures to contain the spreading of COVID-19. New measures include temporarily limiting the operations of some of its shopping centres’ tenants.