May 21 (Reuters) - Klepierre, whose tenants include Zara and H&M, is buying Italy's RomaEst shopping centre, its Chairman Jean-Marc Jestin told Reuters on Tuesday, as the French mall owner steps up its presence in big European cities.

The deal in Italy -- which is Klepierre's second biggest market after France -- is due to be finalised on Friday and is worth more than 200 million euros ($217 million), it said.

RomaEst, the Italian capital's second-largest shopping centre after Porta di Roma, which is also the country's biggest mall, will mark Klepierre's second acquisition in less than six months after O'Parinor in Paris.

"We are opportunistic but also patient, we never sacrifice quality, we want the best," Jestin said, adding that Klepierre aims to have one or more centres in most of major European cities to benefit from the continent's increasing urbanisation.

RomaEst is Italy's sixth most visited shopping centre, with 10 million visits a year, and Klepierre said the acquisition will be accretive to its EPRA earnings -- a key measure of a company's underlying operating results -- from day one and will generate a high annual cash return, without giving details.

Klepierre, which operates 70 shopping centres in 10 countries across continental Europe, has been selling its smaller and less strategic assets in order to invest in the biggest 40 European cities.

"We are the only shopping centre group in Europe that is acquiring assets, while our competitors are mostly selling", Jestin said in an interview, pointing to Klepierre's strong capital base coupled with the proceeds from disposals.

Jestin said the impact of the RomaEst acquisition on Klepierre's debt metrics would be insignificant and its debt ratings with S&P and Fitch would remain unchanged.

Klepierre reported a 4.3% rise retailer sales in the first quarter, slightly below the 5.3% posted by peer Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield in continental Europe. ($1 = 0.9211 euros) (Reporting by Federica Mileo and Diana Mandia; Editing by Alexander Smith)