2024 was a record year for investments for NEPI Rockcastle with close to €1 billion of capital deployed in acquisitions and developments having completed two of the largest real estate deals in Central Eastern Europe (CEE) in recent years.
Magnolia Park, a 100 000m2 GLA shopping centre in Wroclaw (Poland’s third largest city) was acquired in October 2024 for a gross transaction value of €373 million with Silesia City Center, an 88 400m2 GLA retail asset in Katowice, Poland, acquired in early December 2024 for a gross transaction value of €405 million – the largest acquisition of a single asset in NEPI’s history.
“The last few months of 2024 were some of the most eventful in the Group’s history. While operating results maintained a solid growing trajectory throughout the year, NEPI Rockcastle’s acquisitions and successful capital market events were truly momentous … This robust investor support has allowed us to position the Group for future growth, while maintaining the loan-to-value ratio below our 35% threshold … We look ahead with optimism as we work to deliver continued value for our stakeholders in 2025,” comments CEO, Rüdiger Dany.
The Group posted its pre-closing update, anticipating its net operating income (NOI) to increase by 13% in 2024 versus 2023, driven mainly by higher rentals and short-term income.
Strong demand from tenants underpinned an EPRA occupancy rate of 97.9% as of 30th November 2024. At mid-December 2024, the collection rate for the first eleven months of the year was 98% (and 99% for the period January to September 2024). By the end of October 2023, year-to-date cumulative tenant sales were 9% higher than the prior year’s comparable period with footfall year-to-date 1.4% higher than in 2023.
NEPI anticipates its LTV to remain below 35% despite the recent major acquisitions, reaffirming its guidance of distributable earnings per share for 2024 being approximately 5.5% higher relative to 2023.
With a strong pipeline of retail developments, the Group’s current total value of projects under construction are close to €800 million.
