Czech SCF Group enters Romanian retail market with €40m acquisition

The Czech investment group SCF has expanded into the Romanian market by acquiring two NEST retail parks from developer RC Europe for nearly €40 mln.

NEST Retail Park - SCF

This strategic move marks SCF's entry into its fourth country, solidifying its presence in the Central European retail sector.

The newly acquired properties, totalling nearly 24,000 m², will be integrated into SCF CROP, a sub-fund focused on retail park investments in Central and Eastern Europe.

One of the acquired parks, NEST Miercurea Ciuc, is Transylvania's sole modern retail park, boasting almost 18,000 m² and a 98% occupancy rate. It features a LIDL and popular fashion and lifestyle brands. The second park, NEST Moinești, in north-eastern Romania, is nearly 6,000 m² and opened in December 2024 with over 96% occupancy, anchored by Kaufland.

This expansion comes as the Romanian retail market experiences a boom in retail park development, shifting away from traditional shopping centres. Favourable macroeconomic conditions, including strong GDP growth and low unemployment, position Romania as a dynamically developing retail market in the region.

Josef Malíř, CEO and owner of SCF, said: “Romania is one of the most attractive property markets in CEE, and entering this market is a logical extension of our regional strategy. For our first acquisition, we were looking for properties in proven locations with a stable tenant mix and real potential for value growth, which both of the retail parks we have purchased fully meet. The focus on retail parks is no coincidence, as their role is changing – people no longer visit them just to shop, but to have fun and socialise; they function as community spaces as well as collection points for online shops. Moreover, people in Romania love food, which is directly reflected in the stable demand for shopping areas with food retail chains.”

Martin Grünwald, CFO and member of the Board of Directors at RC Europe, added:  “The RC Europe Group entered Romania in 2006 in close cooperation with food chains. Over the past 20 years, we have completed nearly 100 projects here, including shopping centres, office buildings and energy installations. The sale of these two retail parks is part of our strategy to reduce the number of projects we manage and own and to focus our attention on new large-scale projects. A large part of our group’s capacity is now allocated to Croatia, where we are intensively developing our logistics projects in Samobor and other locations. In recent years, we have managed to secure land near the new section of the D1 motorway around Přerov, and we are now actively developing further projects there.”

J&T Banka provided the financing for this transaction. Legal advice was handled by Filip & Company, commercial consulting by iO partners, technical consulting by Gleeds, and financial and tax consulting by TPA.