South-African investment fund New Europe Property Investment (NEPI), one of the largest real estate investors in Romania, is currently negotiating the takeover of Promenada mall from Austrian developer Raiffeisen Evolution, according to sources in the real-estate market quoted by Mediafax.

Both NEPI and Raiffeisen Evolution declined to comment.

Promenada was inaugurated in October 2013 and the total investment in the mall was of EUR 130 million, of which EUR 95 million was a loan from Raiffeisen Bank. The Austrian developer might be looking to get EUR 150 million for the project, including the takeover or repayment of the loan from Raiffeisen Bank.

The shopping center is located in the Barbu Vacarescu area, one of the main office locations in Bucharest. Promenada has a gross leasable area of 35,000 sqm and is almost fully occupied.

NEPI is one of the most active real-estate investors in Romania. The fund bought or developed several shopping centers in Bucharest, but also in other cities in Romania. Among the most important projects are Ploiesti Shopping City, City Park Constanta and Vulcan Value Centre in Bucharest.

The fund is currently developing its largest shopping center, Mega Mall, in Bucharest, a EUR 160 million investment. The fund raised EUR 100 million from investors at the beginning of August and has a market capitalization of EUR 2.29 billion.

Polish real-estate developer GTC and Greek businessman Ioannis Papalekas were also rumored to be interested in Promenada mall. Papalekas is currently developing an office building next to Promenada.

editor@romania-insider.com