Iulian Botta at Ziarul Financiar: a Romanian alternative in retail parks, a segment owned almost only by foreign investors

Iulian Botta, CEO of NestPlus, was the guest of “CEC Bank pentru afaceri românești”, the show produced by Ziarul Financiar together with CEC Bank, in the edition of 30 July 2026. The theme: how a Romanian group builds a position in a retail segment whose owners are, almost without exception, foreign investors.

The centrepiece is a fund. In the second half of this year NestPlus intends to launch its first retail investment vehicle — one designed not to sell the parks on completion, but to keep and operate them. “Only foreign players own these parks, and what we are trying to do is create a Romanian alternative in retail-park investment,” said Iulian Botta.

The pipeline behind it is already on the ground. Two sites are under construction: at Brăila, a gallery of roughly 9,000 m² inside a 17,000 m² retail platform shared with Lidl and Kaufland, and in Bucharest a 7,500 m² park in the Vitan area. Two more sites start this year. The group works through three divisions — Plaza for retail, Living for residential, and its own general contractor.

The market case rests on a gap. Romanians spend a larger share of their income on consumption than their neighbours, yet the country is under-supplied with modern retail: around 250 m² per thousand inhabitants, against 350–360 m² in the countries around it. Some 110,000 m² were delivered in the first half of the year, and deliveries could reach 300,000 m² by December.

Demand comes both from tenants already established here — JYSK, Sinsay, Dr. Max — and from recent entrants such as Action and Mr.DIY, which has already signed in NestPlus schemes. The direction of travel is away from hypermarkets and large platforms, towards smaller cities and proximity formats; on European forecasts, retail, and strip malls in particular, carry the highest yields in the industry over the next six years.

The brake is permitting. A retail park takes 24–36 months from start to finish, and most of the delay sits with the paperwork: larger plots need a PUZ, and while some authorities issue their approvals in under 30 days, others take up to a year. “The biggest challenge for investment in Romania is not the will to build, nor the market or its growth — it is the ability to actually invest,” Botta said.

In residential, the strategy is deliberately selective. The group is at phase 4 of NestPlus Basarab and is developing NestPlus Muncii, both on central sites, and both conversions of former industrial land. Schemes are kept to 100–200 apartments, at a pace of one project every two to three years — central locations and reconversions rather than volume.

Financing is where the pressure now shows. The Nordis law caps what a developer may collect before authorisation — 5%, released in stages — which, in the CEO's reading, has decapitalised residential developers and ranks alongside permitting as the sector's main constraint. Construction costs have risen 5–6% in recent months on the back of steel, with domestic production unable to cover demand while the Galați mill stays idle.

Housing demand is softer than last year, yet good product still moves quickly, including at record levels of €5,000–6,000 per square metre; on the group's last completed scheme, prices rose by close to 40% between the start of construction and delivery. Bucharest, Botta noted, is the one capital in the region where salaries are comparable to its peers while the price per square metre is close to half — which is where the headroom lies.

The risk he flags is regional. Developers who were active here have shifted attention to Poland and the Czech Republic, and Romania is competing for the same capital: “Romania is appealing, but it is not alone. Investment is still the engine of the economy and it needs to be looked after.”