"In the next months we will make the first investment outside Romania. We are currently analysing Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia and Bulgaria, mainly capital cities and very good retail projects. This does not mean that we are going to slow down the investment pace in Romania. Romania is still our main target and our favourite, being the market with the biggest potential. We estimate to invest in the next three years approx. half a billion euros in Romania, which is good news both for us and the market. “, has declared Martin Slabbert, CEO NEPI. NEPI has invested since 2007 almost exclusively in real estate projects from Romania, where its assets are currently valued at more than EUR 600 million. The fund also owns an insignificant real estate portfolio in Germany, including office and retail. The fund has attracted on Monday approx. EUR 59 million through a capital increase during few hours, given the fact that the capital amount aimed was only approx. EUR 42.5 million. Slabbert says that the most important investors in Romania to participate to the capital increase are the funds Aviva Investors and Raiffeisen Asset Management and the biggest amount was given by a South-African fund. Slabbert also said that this amount will not be enough for the investments planned for the period. NEPI has registered last year over EUR 40 million income from rents and operations, with a 25% growth and a net profit of EUR 33.1 million, 76% higher than in 2011. The fund bought in 2012 the office project City Business Center in Timişoara, a land for the development of another business park in Cluj, lands for the construction of commercial centres in Braşov, Galaţi and Bucharest (Vulcan), and at the end of the year has opened Ploieşti Shopping City with Carrefour Property. The projects in Timişoara and Ploieşti, as well as the involving of the retailers C&A and H&M in Promenada Mall Braila have contributed to the company’s income growth. In 2013 NEPI plans to open the project on Vulcan platform in Bucharest, having already obtained the Zone Urban Plan permit in December 2012 and announced recently the construction works organization for the office project in Cluj. At the same time, the company intends to develop small commercial galleries near five Kaufland stores, two of them are going to be near the units in Alexandria and Sfântu Gheorghe. The fund investments in Romania would have been significantly higher if the developers had accepted NEPI’s offers. Among the offered projects, Slabbert had named AFI Cotroceni from Bucureşti, but also the two malls in Cluj-Napoca, Polus Center and Iulius Mall. (sursa: economica.net)