Wolf Theiss advises bank syndicate on granting EUR 200 million in green credit financing to NEPI Rockcastle

Bucharest, 21 April 2023 – Wolf Theiss acted as legal advisor to Erste Group Bank AG and Raiffeisen Bank S.A. in their capacity as lenders of a EUR 200 million, 5-year term, secured green loan granted to NEPI Rockcastle, Romania’s largest shopping centre investor and developer, for the purpose of financing two of its shopping centres in Romania: Mega Mall Bucharest and Promenada Sibiu.

Wolf Theiss’ Banking & Finance team in Bucharest, led by Partner Claudia Chiper, provided legal assistance to the two financing banks behind the secured real estate green loans granted to NEPI Rockcastle, the largest investor in, and developer of, shopping centres in Central and Eastern Europe. The financing process involved negotiating, signing, and arranging the utilisation of the syndicated term facilities agreement and the related finance documents. Claudia was supported by Senior Associates Iuliana Stoicescu and Alexandru Asaftei, as well as Associate Cătălin Sabău from the Bucharest office in relation to the transactional work. Real Estate Partner Roxana Dudău and Counsel Dana Toma advised with respect to the due-diligence process related to the two shopping malls.

“We are honoured to have had the opportunity to support two leading banks such as Erste Group Bank AG and Raiffeisen Bank S.A.in granting the largest real estate green loans of 2023 so far. Working on this transaction underlines among others our support in implementing green financing deals and in building up a robust framework for such loans. We are grateful to our clients and to all the other parties involved for the opportunity to complete this successful green lending transaction.”

Claudia Chiper, Wolf Theiss Partner, Bucharest

About NEPI Rockcastle

NEPI Rockcastle is CEE’s largest listed owner, developer, and manager of shopping centres, owning over 2,000,000 sq.m. of high-quality modern retail portfolio across nine Central and Eastern European countries: Romania, Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Serbia, and Lithuania. Its growth is being propelled through a €677 million development programme, accompanied by accretive acquisitions, with the company’s most recent purchases being Forum Gdansk Shopping Centre (Gdansk) and Copernicus Shopping Centre (Torun), both in Poland. NEPI Rockcastle benefits from two key strategic advantages – its unique portfolio of over 50 shopping centres, assembled over the past 15 years and its team of over 400 people who bring unparalleled expert local knowledge in retail property.

The company has also become a member of the European Council of Shopping Places (ECSP) and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) to consolidate its market-leading position in the retail real estate industry.