The volume of Romania's retail trade increased by 8.7 percent in October 2016 compared to the same month of the year before, making this the second month in a row when Romania's performance is surpassed only by Luxembourg in the EU ranking by retail trade growth, shows data released by the European Statistical Office (Eurostat).  In the euro area, the calendar adjusted retail sales index increased by 2.4 percent in October 2016 compared with October 2015, and by 3.5 percent in the EU28 quotes Agerpress.

PeliFilip advised Anchor, the real estate and development group, with respect to the merger of the Romanian group companies owning and operating București Mall and Plaza Mall. The process was designed as a merger through absorption, under which the entire patrimony of the Plaza Mall shopping centre was transferred to București Mall. The preliminary steps of the merger were initiated in March 2016, with the merger becoming effective in October 2016. 

Casa de Insolvenţă Transilvania, in charge with the bankruptcy of Swan Property, announced the sale of insolvent office park Swan Office & Technology Park to Smartown Investments for EUR30.3 million, a price higher with 50 percent than the price approved by creditors. CITR declared it has promoted the office project to more than 150 investors in Romania and abroad, as well as to the clients in the company’s portfolio, according to data published in an activity report of CITR.

Law firm PeliFilip assisted Argo Group in the sale of retail park Shopping City Sibiu to NEPI, a 100 million euro transaction , which sets it as one of the reference real estate transactions in Romania in 2016.

PeliFilip legal team involved in the transaction was coordinated by Oana Bădărău and included them on Gianina Gavanescu and Mihaela Ispas, Senior Associates.

The French Immochan will begin constructing the first 13 buildings out of 60 in the Coresi Shopping Resort in Brasov (that they themselves erected as well). The residential investment will reach 100 million EUR in the following years. Immochan will be the sponsor, and Avantgarden Immo Invest, the developer.

"The first phase of the project consists of 13 buildings with 60 apartments. The first three will be delivered in April next year, and then another set of three at every three months. The project consists of 60 buildings with 3000 appartments, and it will be finalized in about 7-8 years", reveals Tatian Diaconu, General Manager of Immochan Romania, who also adds that the board intends to reproduce the concept in other big cities like Iasi, Constanta, Cluj, Craiova, Sibiu, and Timisoara.

Courier and parcel services firm DPD Group leased17,000 square meters of buildings and logistics platforms in WDP Park Sibiu. The space will be used for a new distribution center that will be inaugurated in the course of 2016.  

Veranda shopping center, located in the Obor area in Bucharest, attracted funding of EUR 25.5 million from Raiffeisen Bank SA and Raiffeisen Bank International AG, that will be used fort the project development. In this transaction, Veranda Mall was assisted by law firms Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and PeliFilip, while financing banks have been advised by the lawyers of CMS Cameron McKenna. The credit agreement for Veranda shopping center was completed in February 2016 in order to partly finance the total cost for project development. Under the agreement, it provides the opportunity to increase funding to 28.5 million euros, while the total investment in the project is estimated to 60 million.