iO Partners advises MAS on the largest retail real estate transaction ever signed in Romania

iO Partners advised MAS on the largest retail transaction ever signed in Romania, involving the sale of a portfolio of six retail projects located in Ploiești, Zalău, Baia Mare, Roman, Sfântu Gheorghe and Bârlad to AFI. Conducted through a structured sale process.

The portfolio consists of dominant retail schemes in their respective cities, supported by strong operating performance and a well-established international tenant mix factors that generated significant interest from multiple investors throughout the sale process.

“This transaction marks a defining moment for the Romanian real estate market, both through the scale of the portfolio and the efficiency of the execution process. The level of interest generated confirms that high-performing assets continue to attract institutional capital in a competitive manner, despite ongoing geopolitical and macroeconomic challenges, while investors increasingly view Romania as a key market at regional level,” said Andrei Văcaru, Managing Director Romania & Head of Capital Markets CEE.

The sale process was completed within a record timeframe for a transaction of this scale,  approximately six months, demonstrating the local market’s ability to support large-scale transactions at speed when the underlying product meets institutional investment criteria.