CMS has advised AFI Europe on its EUR 300 million acquisition of four Class A office projects in Romania from NEPI Rockcastle. The sellers were advised on the transaction, which is reported by CMS to be "one of the biggest in CEE and the largest-ever for the Romanian real estate market," by Herbert Smith Freehills and Reff & Associates, the Romanian member firm of Deloitte Legal.
The portfolio purchased by AFI Europe — a member of the holding and investments group Africa Israel Investments Ltd. — includes eight office buildings covering an area of over 118,500 square meters: the Floreasca Business Park, Lakeview, and Aviatorilor 8 in Bucharest, and the City Business Center in Timisoara.
CMS's team in Bucharest was led by Partner Horea Popescu, Senior Counsel Roxana Fratila and Consultant David Cranfield, with support from Partner Ana Radnev, Senior Tax Manager Andrei Tercu, Lawyers Alexandru Dumitrescu and Alexandru Trandafir, Senior Associates Claudia Popescu, Mircea Moraru, Claudia Nagy, Valentina Parvu, and Andrei Cristescu, and Associate Catalin Vasile. The firm's team also included Partner Aaron Fairhurst and Associate Kristin Shelley in the United Kingdom.
The Reff & Associates team advising NEPI Rockcastle on Romanian law was coordinated by Partner Irina Dimitriu and included Senior Managing Associate Simona Iacob, Senior Associates Maria Nitulescu, Ioana Georgescu-Muresanu, Diana Stan, and Calin Georgescu-Muresanu, and Associate Alexandru Butusina.
Editor's Note: In August 2020 CEE Legal Matters learned that this deal had failed to close, but that the parties had successfully revived it and re-executed it, and that latter deal closed successfully (as reported on September 4, 2020).
