New Europe Property Investments (NEPI) is acquiring the Serdika shopping centre and office complex in the Bugarian capital Sofia for a total of €207 mln.
The usually large transaction for the Bulgarian market comes as NEPI is working towards a merger with fellow Johannesburg-listed CEE and SEE-focused property company Rockcastle.
NEPI is acquiring the Serdika Center shopping centre from a joint venture German investment manager Hansa Immobilien and Austria's CEE Property-Invest Immobilien.
Located 3 km southeast of the city centre, the shopping centre has a catchment area of 379,000 inhabitants within 15 minutes radius.
The fashion-orientated shopping centre was opened in 2010 and according to NEPI, is 'targetting a customer group with above-average income'.
The centre has a gross leasable area of 51,500 m2 and is 99% let. The tenants include international tenants such as Adidas, Benetton, Bershka, Billa, Cropp, Converse, Deichmann, Desigual, Forever 21 and H&M.
NEPI is also buying the Serdika Office component of the centre from CEE Property-Invest. The 28,500 m2 office property is built on top of the shopping centre and is almost fully let. The tenants include multinational companies such as Citibank, Coca Cola, Merck and Sutherland.
