CAPE TOWN Property loan stock company Fairvest Property Holdings has made a long-awaited offer for all the properties owned by Bonatla Property Holdings, the Gauteng commercial and industrial property investment company.

The price tag of R157,3m is equivalent to about 85c a Bonatla share, which was the price published by Fairvest last November in its cautionary announcement on the proposed deal. In addition to the R157,3m being paid by way of the issue of new Fairvest linked units, Fairvest would also assume up to R20m of Bonatla's net current liabilities and mortgage bonds against the properties, Fairvest said on Friday.

Bonatla's market capitalisation on Friday, based on its current price of 45c a unit, was R83,3m. The shares are trading well below the group's tangible net asset value of about 87c a share.

According to its results for the year to September published in the middle of last month, the group's fixed assets totalled R631,3m, on which long-term debt was R456,9m.

Bonatla's current debt at endSeptember was R23,2m. The effective date of the offer will be April 1. Fairvest said its offer was subject to certain conditions, including the approval of the boards of both companies, regulatory approval and a limited due diligence. Both Fairvest and Bonatla have been mired in controversy in recent months.

Fairvest is probing possible fraudulent activity relating to put options in its shares, and it was reported recently that there was internal disagreement within Bonatla over strategic direction.