Herbert Smith Freehills has advised NEPI Rockcastle plc on the sale of its subsidiaries which own a portfolio of office buildings in Romania to AFI Properties. It is believed to be the largest deal in the Romanian real estate market and one of the biggest real estate deals in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region in 2019.

NEPI Rockcastle plc is listed on Euronext Amsterdam and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and AFI Properties is listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

With a deal value of €308 million, the transaction is expected to complete in the first half of 2020. he Herbert Smith Freehills team was led by corporate partner Caroline Rae and corporate senior associate Siddhartha Shukla, along with the firm's Head of Global M&A practice Gavin Davies and Head of the UK and EMEA real estate practice Jeremy Walden.

Caroline commented: "We were delighted to work with NEPI Rockcastle on this deal, which is one of the largest real estate deals in the CEE region for 2019."