July 11 (SeeNews) - Romania's antitrust body said on Monday it approved the takeover by Bucharest-listed real estate investment trust (REIT) New Europe Property Investments [BSE:NEP] of Sibiu Shopping mall and Belgian developer Bel Rom Trei.
"Following a review of the transaction, the Competition Council found that it does not raise significant obstacles to effective competition in the market, in particular by creating or strengthening a dominant position," the anti-trust body said in a statement.
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On June 24, NEPI concluded an agreement to acquire Shopping City Sibiu from the Argo group for 100 million euro ($110.3 million), it said in a public update on acquisitions at the end of June.
The shopping centre currently has a gross lettable area (GLA) of 79,100 sq m and was opened in November 2006.
NEPI also acquired Bel Rom Trei, the Belgian developer which initially sold the mall in 2006 to investment fund Argo.
NEPI has also agreed to buy the remaining 30% interest in Mega Mall Bucharest from Austrian development group Real4You, but the completion of this acquisition is still pending the approval of the Competition Council. NEPI currently owns 70% of the mall, which has a GLA 75,500 sq m and is the group’s largest development to date.
NEPI's profit attributable to equity holders jumped 60% to 158.3 million euro in 2015. The fund's total assets increased to 2.2 billion euro at end-2015 from 1.54 billion euro a year earlier.
NEPI is an Isle of Man-based company investing primarily in the high quality office, retail and industrial property market initially in Romania and thereafter in other Central and Eastern European countries. It is also listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange and the main market of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
It owns one of the largest real estate portfolios in Romania, being the owner of major commercial centers, like Mega Mall, Promenada Mall, Vulcan Value Center, Iris Titan Shopping Center in Bucharest, City Park in Constanta, Shopping City in Ploiesti or Shopping City in Deva.
($ = 0.9038 euro)