Domestic investors own some of the largest office projects that are under development in Romania, although international players have the biggest portfolios in the market. 

Belgian logistics developer WDP announced that it is buying several land plots near Bucharest and aims to develop a new logistics centre in Transylvania. The company is currently finalising the acquisition of new land positions in the Bucharest region in the amount of €10 million, WDP announced in an interim statement for Q1 2021.

WDP Romania, the developer and owner of industrial and logistics spaces, has received the Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiency (EDGE) certification for its local stock of warehouses. EDGE was created by IFC, part of the World Bank. It helps property owners and developers build and operate green buildings in a fast and affordable way. The certifications apply to WDP warehouses ranging from 2,500 sqm to more than 60,000 sqm. 

Belgian company WDP, which is developing logistics and industrial spaces, has €116 million worth ongoing projects locally, according to data from the 2020 financial report. Last year, WDP finalised 223,000 sqm of logistics after an investment of €134 million.

The industrial real estate sector in Romania will receive a boost thanks to an agreement signed between the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Warehouses De Pauw (WDP). The EBRD will provide WDP with a €150 million senior unsecured loan to support the company’s portfolio expansion in the country.

JLL has advised Rosti Romania, owned by the Swedish company Rosti Group AB, in the lease of 11,300 sqm industrial spaces in Paulesti, near Ploiesti, developed and rented out by WDP. The construction of the new production facility, announced by Rosti at the end of last year, has already started and the delivery date is set for 2021.

Profi, one of the largest retail chains in Romania, expands its logistic activities by contracting two new projects in Timisoara (58,000 sqm) and Craiova (57,000 sqm), which will be developed and rented out by Belgian logistics developer WDP. JLL has advised Profi in both transactions, thus continuing the partnership started few years ago, which resulted in 250,000 sqm of logistics space contracted in Bucharest, Roman, Cluj, Craiova and Timisoara.

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is providing a green financing package of approximately €205 million to Warehouses De Pauw NV (WDP), a Belgian real-estate investment trust, to support the construction of around 1 million sqm of resource-efficient semi-industrial and logistics properties across Romania. The green financing fits within a larger €750 million financing programme and includes green financing from third-party investors mobilized by IFC under its Managed Co-Lending Portfolio Program and from international commercial banks.  

WDP will be constructing a new 60,000 sqm warehouse for Pirelli in Slatina, Romania as part of an expansion of the tyre manufacturer’s existing production facility. WDP projects an investment of some €40 million for this development.

Carrefour has once again opted for WDP as its real estate partner for two new WDP sites in Romania (namely in Deva and in Brazi), totalling a surface of around 80,000 sqm. Both development projects represent an investment volume of around €40 million.