Delta City has not been sold to NEPI fund

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South African investment fund New Europe Property Investments, NEPI, has not acquired Delta City's Podgorica and Belgrade shopping malls, despite some media reports, Telegraf Biznis has confirmed.

"NEPI Rockcastle has not acquired or purchased any of the aforementioned shopping centers (Delta City Podgorica, Delta City Belgrade). Information published by some media outlets today about the alleged acquisition of these shopping malls is incorrect," NEPI told our portal.

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These are the two malls bought in 2016 by then South African investment fund Hyprop Investments, from their owner, Belgrade businessman Miroslav Miskovic.

Some media reported this morning that the buyer of these two malls was NEPI Rockcastle, which has 15,000 shareholders and whose business is real estate. However, according to what we have learned, this information is incorrect.

Delta City Podgorica opened in 2008 on an area of ​​48,000 square meters with 75 stores employing 1,200 people, while the Belgrade mall opened a year earlier, on 85,000 square meters, with 130 stores and employing 1,500 people.

Hyprop Investments is the owner of 11 exclusive shopping centers across South and Sub-Saharan Africa, and the transaction with Delta shopping centers was the company's first foray outside the African market.

Hyprop owns 60 percent of these malls while the remaining 40 percent is held by Homestead Group, which represents real estate owners, primarily in America. Its co-owner is one of the directors at Hyprop.

To go into the takeover of both Delta City's, the two companies formed an offshore joint venture in London, so the shopping malls are now run by Hystead. The company also manages other shopping malls in Southeast Europe that it bought later in Croatia, Macedonia and Bulgaria.

However, these acquisitions meant that the company went into debt, which resulted in a downgrade of its rating by Moody's credit rating agency.

NEPI has invested 100 million euros in the Promenada shopping mall in Novi Sad, which opened in 2018 on 150,000 square meters. NEPI also manages the Kragujevac Plaza mall in Serbia, and owns 40 shopping centers in Africa and Europe where, in addition to Serbia, they operate in Croatia, Romania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The group's shares are listed on stock exchanges in London, Johannesburg, and Bucharest.

(Telegraf Biznis/V.B)