Who’s Who

Profile:
Country Manager, Cordia Romania & Spain; Member of Cordia`s Board of Directors
Portfolio value of Futureal Group, owner of Cordia:
€5.0 billion
Experience:
20 years on the real estate markets in Spain, Bulgaria and Romania
Cordia in numbers:
7.000 apartments completed over the last 19 years, 4.000 apartments under development, pipeline of 11.200 apartments in the coming years

Mauricio Mesa Gomez is Country Manager of Cordia Romania and Spain and a member of Cordia’s Board of Directors.

Born in Spain, Mauricio Mesa Gomez is a law graduate from Navarra University, specialized in real estate. After an activity spanning for 5 years on the Spanish real estate market, his experience in Eastern Europe started back in February 2006, partnering with a group of investors and managing their investments in Bulgaria. There, he has successfully closed joint-venture agreements for two important projects in Bansko. Then, after 8 years as General Manager for Hercesa Romania and Bulgaria, he joined Cordia, part of Futureal Group, in 2016.

Mauricio Mesa Gomez is successfully coordinating the development of Parcului20, the residential project Cordia Romania started developing in 2019 in Expoziției area, North Bucharest. Even in the context generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the construction works on the project continued without interruption and the first residents moved in the project in March 2021. Construction works on the second phase of the project, comprised of 220 apartments destined to the medium-high segment started in November 2020.

“We are currently focusing on building Parcului20 phase 2, comprised of 220 apartments destined to the medium-high segment of the market, in the context in which the residents in the 1st phase started moving in their new apartments in March 2021. We are currently assessing which land-plots in our portfolio we will develop next, depending on the market conditions and other factors. We intend to launch a new residential project this year, on a land-plot located in North Bucharest. Cordia Romania is currently developing the Parcului20 residential project, located in Expoziției area, North Bucharest.

In 2021, the developer intends to launch another residential project in North Bucharest. Cordia has a land-portfolio in Central-North and North Bucharest that provides a 2.000 apartments pipeline on medium-term.

In Spain, Mauricio Mesa Gomez is coordinating the development of Jade Tower, a residential project comprised of 116 luxury apartments and penthouses located in Fuengirola, at the heart of Costa del Sol.

Anca Simionescu is a senior real estate professional, with a wide expertise in commercial and residential real estate investment, asset management and business development. She was previously part of the managerial teams of companies such as Asmita Group, Skanska Romania, or Sterncor UK. As of September 2020 she was appointed Lion’s Head’s Country Manager for Romania, responsible for the implementation of the Group’s strategy in the country.

Lion’s Head is the owner and manager of income-producing commercial properties in Central and Eastern Europe. The company is backed by AG Capital and Old Mutual Property. AG Capital is one of the most influential groups in real estate investment, development and asset management in Bulgaria. Old Mutual Property is part of Old Mutual, established in 1845 as South Africa’s first life insurance company. Today, Old Mutual has grown into a financial services group that offers a broad spectrum of financial solutions to retail and corporate customers across key market segments in 14 countries, with listings on five stock exchanges.

In Romania, the fund acquired Oregon Park from Portland Trust, a transaction valued at over € 170 mil., the second-largest in the history of the local market. Oregon Park is a premium A graded office complex comprising three 7-storey buildings that provide over 70.000 sqm of contemporary office space surrounded by an attractively landscaped plot of nearly 4 ha. Located in Floreasca-Barbu Vacarescu Business District, the area is one of the most prestigious business hubs in Bucharest, attracting many global companies.

Read more about All People You Should Know on the Romanian Real Estate Market

Iulian Dascalu founded Iulius Group in 2000, company which became the largest Romanian owner of shopping malls on the local market. His business started in the early 90s, at first with a few shoe stores, followed by Iulius Commercial Centre in 1995 and Terra Commercial Centre in 1996. His first mall was Iulius Mall Iasi in 2000, the first shopping mall outside of Bucharest.

Now Iulius Company is the only developer and operator of mixed-use urban regeneration projects in Romania, with more than 20 years of real estate experience and operating in 4 major Romanian cities, namely Iași, Timișoara, Cluj-Napoca, and Suceava. Experience also brought about the projects that have changed perceptions about lifestyle, have redefined and revitalized urban centers and became integrated in their respective communities. The project then had an organic development up to a portfolio that currently comprises more than 300.000 sqm of retail premises in two mixed-use urban regeneration projects (Palas Iași and Iulius Town Timisoara), the only ones of this kind in Romania, as well as a nationwide network of regional shopping malls (Iulius Mall – Iasi, Cluj-Napoca and Suceava). These are vibrant spaces that define poles of urban attraction and draw more than 68 million visitors every year.

In the last 10 years, Iulius Company also became one as the most active developers and operators of class A office spaces, building regional business hubs and creative multinational communities in three major academic centers in Romania, namely Iasi, Timisoara and Cluj-Napoca. In total, there are 13 green buildings with a total area upwards of 152.000 sqm, accommodating more than 80 company head offices and 15.000-plus employees.

With projects like Iulius Palas in Iasi and Iulius Town in Timisoara, Iulius Goup radically transformed the center area of the two cities. In 2020, a year affected by the pandemic, Iulius started Iulius Campus in Iasi, an investment in an office project of more than 120 mil. EUR. Iulius Group started the procedure to develop a 3 billion euros project at Romexpo, in a partnership with the Romanian Chamber of Commerce.

More about All People You Should Know on the Romanian Real Estate Market

Marian V. Popa, a recognized senior corporate operational leader, is the Managing Director of Globalworth for Romania, starting March 2021. In this role, he is responsible for managing the company’s activities in Romania, focusing on operational, administration and business development matters. Marian V. Popa brings a wealth of senior management experience focused on financial services, business services, outsourcing and technology sectors with multinationals such as Deutsche Bank, Endava, Fujitsu and Rank Xerox.

Before joining Globalworth, in his most recent role as Managing Director of Deutsche Bank Global Technology Romania, between 2014 and 2021, he created one of the four strategical technology centers of Deutsche Bank worldwide managing over 1.000 people. Prior to his position at Deutsche Bank, Marian V. Popa was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of notable companies such as Endava CEE (over 7 years), Fujitsu/ICL (8 years) and Xerox Romania & Moldova (over 14 years). He founded the consulting company Transformative Coaching and several NGOs such as the Foundation for the Medieval Art Festival in Sighisoara, The American Chamber of Commerce, The British – Romanian Chamber of Commerce, AOAR, Transparency International Romania and many others. Globalworth’s Managing Director in Romania holds a degree in Economics and Foreign Trade Relations (Romania) and three diplomas in Executive Management Education (UK, Belgium, and France).

“Romania is a market that is emerging as winner from this crisis, an obvious choice for multinationals looking not only to reduced costs, but also to find human capital. It will witness substantial growth and FDI into 2022 and onwards, which automatically translates into growth for the property segment.

2021 in the real estate market will be marked by PropTech solutions and Customer Care. People are still being cautious now, but surely and safely people will be coming back to the office over the coming period, and technology is one of our many allies in making this transition back to work run smoothly.”

The developer is bringing the future closer in the Romanian office market with Globalworth Square, the most technologically advanced building in their portfolio – as an example, Globalworth Square benefits from touchless access into the building, a simple yet key aspect. “And last but not least, tech is closely interwoven with sustainability by helping us build more energy efficient buildings, from lower emissions to car charging stations; at Globalworth Square we are producing our own energy through rooftop PV panels”, Marian V. Popa ads.

Globalworth`s real estate portfolio has a combined value of €3.0 billion and is managed by an internal team of over 200 professionals mainly located in Poland and Romania. In Poland the company is present in Warsaw and 5 other major regional cities, while in Romania the properties are located in Bucharest and 5 other regional hubs.  

Originally from Israel, Doron Klein has more than 20 years’ experience operating in Central and Eastern European real estate markets, having been based in Czech Republic for most of that time. He joined AFI Europe in 2008 and since 2011 he has served as CEO of AFI Europe’s operations in the Czech Republic. In 2018 Doron was also appointed as CEO for AFI Europe Romania operations. Doron Klein has an MBA degree from The University of New York in Prague, Czech Republic and he is fluent in Hebrew, English and Czech.

“In the next period we will continue to improve and grow our portfolio which currently stands at ~ 170.000 sqm retail spaces and ~ 300.000 sqm office spaces both by advancing the development plan on our existing land bank as well as by potential acquisitions of more standing properties.”

At the beginning of 2020, AFI Europe Romania delivered to the final users its first residential complex developed in the Romanian market, enjoying the know-how the company gained in the region for the last 20 years. AFI City Bucurestii Noi delivered 190 apartments in Phase I and is located exactly at Laminorului metro station.

In October, 2020 the company inaugurated AFI Brasov, a mixed-use project combining 45.000 sqm GLA shopping center with 15.000 sqm GLA office spaces (AFI Park Brasov) in the heart of Brasov city. The project received the LEED GOLD green certification, being the first mixed-use project in the county to award such recognition.

Key projects:

AFI Europe bought the office portfolio of NEPI-Rockcastle (118.500 sqm spread over 4 Class A business parks and 8 buildings in total), in the largest office transaction on the market, valued at € 290 mil.

AFI opened the AFI Brasov mixed–use development and entered the residential market in 2018 with AFI City.

Dimitris Raptis, a seasoned business leader with 25 years of experience in the financial services and real estate industries, is the CEO of Globalworth Group, a pioneering real estate institutional investor, developer, and asset manager active in the CEE region. He was Globalworth’s Co-CEO between March and December 2020. He joined the Group when it was founded in 2012 as Deputy CEO and Chief Investment Officer. In this role, he was involved in most of the Company’s activities, with primary responsibility for Globalworth’s investment and capital raising initiatives, and since 2017, Globalworth Poland, the Group’s Polish business.

During this period, he oversaw acquisitions and developments worth Euro 2.7 billion as well as the raising of Euro 5 billion of equity capital and debt capital which propelled Globalworth from an asset base of Euro 53m when it was listed in London’s AIM market exchange in 2013 to over Euro 3 billion today, becoming the largest office investor and landlord in the CEE region.

Before joining Globalworth, Mr. Raptis spent 16 years in Deutsche Bank, most of them as a senior member of the real estate investment management group of Deutsche Bank’s Asset and Wealth Management division (“RREEF”). From 2008 to 2012, he was Managing Director and European Head of Portfolio Management for RREEF Opportunistic Investments, the real estate private equity division of Deutsche Bank. During his tenure with RREEF he managed and executed real estate transactions across Europe with a total value in excess of Euro 12 billion.

Dimitris Raptis has a First Class (HONS) BSc in Banking and International Finance from Cass Business School, London.

“As the leading office investor in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), we will continue promoting our current portfolio and assets to new tenants for the office segment, as well as expand our logistics portfolio, Globalworth Industrial.
At the same time, we will continue monitoring the market for attractive investment opportunities in the office segment – we are in the privileged position to ample liquidity at our disposal, and the purpose is to invest it wisely – we expect 2021 to be predominantly a year of actively managing our existing office portfolio and working side by side with our tenants, together creating the office of tomorrow for the long run. At the same time, we will keep close to and support our clients and the broader community within which we live and operate, reinforcing our position as THE landlord of choice in our home markets.”

Globalworth is the leading real estate company in Central and Eastern Europe, with focus on Poland and Romania, CEE’s two largest property markets. Globalworth owns 49 standing Class A office buildings, in prime locations within their respective sub-markets, their portfolio also including a number of landmark and strategic investments mainly in office, mixed-use (office/commercial) and industrial. The company holds a diverse tenant base composed of 650 corporations.

Investments in work

Over €79 million undergoing investments, representing investments in projects such as Globalworth Square (Romania), the reconversion of the Renoma project (Poland) and various extensions or investments within Globalworth Industrial, Globalworth’s logistics and light industry sub-brand.