Netherlands-based property investment and development group NEPI Rockcastle signed a binding agreement to sell 100% of its subsidiary holding the shopping center Promenada Novi Sad in Serbia to the Serbian unit of Dutch-registered BIG CEE BV for 177 million euro. BIG CEE BV is a subsidiary of Israel’s BIG Shopping Centers, which operates in Israel, the US, France, Serbia and Montenegro. A team from law firm Karanović & Partners advised BIG CEE on all transactional aspects of the deal.
Promenada Novi Sad is the second largest mall in Serbia with 49,000 square meters of space. The net proceeds from the disposal will be used to fund NEPI Rockcastle’s pipeline of acquisitions and developments. Following the Disposal, NEPI Rockcastle will no longer have properties and will cease its operations in Serbia. The Agreement was finalized on July 3, 2024.
Last week, NEPI Rockcatle, Europe’s third largest listed retail real estate company by investment portfolio value and the largest owner, operator, and developer of shopping centres in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), lifted its earnings growth guidance for its 2024 financial year from 4% to 5.5%.
“The Company continued to perform strongly in the first half (H1) of this year delivering a year-on-year rise of 13.5% in net operating income (NOI), amid clear signs that the economic outlook for our core Central and Eastern European markets is stabilising and consumer confidence is improving. Tenant sales increased across all retail categories in our shopping centres, underlining the attractiveness of our locations and the resilience of the CEE consumer” Rüdiger Dany, Chief Executive Officer of NEPI Rockcastle said in a statement. “We continue to be very prudent in our liability management and secured the resources to repay the €500 million bond maturing in November 2024 almost a year in advance” he added.
NEPI Rockcastle will be hosting a Capital Markets Day on 1 October 2024 in Bucharest, Romania. The agenda will include presentations and panels on current market and macroeconomic trends, CEE retail and real estate overview and will provide insights into the Company’s strategic vision, corporate goals, growth opportunities and pathway to a sustainable future.
The company is investment grade-rated by Standard & Poor’s (BBB, outlook stable) and Fitch (BBB+, outlook stable). Its shares are listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (“JSE”), Euronext Amsterdam (“Euronext”), and A2X. NEPI Rockcastle is the JSE’s largest property stock, with a market cap approaching R94bn. At the end of H1 2024, the group’s distributable earnings per share were 30.12 eurocents, up 5.6% compared to H1 2023.
