Ten out of 11 properties in the group are shopping centres in low LSM areas in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Western Cape.

Sean Berowsky, national property investments specialist at Broll, says the deal will enable Fairvest to grow the fund in the near term in a sector of the market that has experienced frenetic deal-making with a spate of new listings entering the market in the last 18 months.

He says the deal is consistent with Fairvest’s growth strategy of focusing on retail assets with a low LSM bias and non-metropolitan weighting, and SA Corporate said the disposal would allow it to manage its resources more optimally by concentrating on its larger property assets.

Tokai Junction Shopping Centre, one of two Western Cape properties, is the sole high LSM sale, selling for R84.9m. It has a gross lettable area of over 7 600 m2 and an average gross rental of R108/m2.

OmniPlace in Bellville is the only office building in the portfolio, selling for R20m.

Fairview took transfer of eight of the properties in the portfolio in December 2012 and three more will follow within the next few weeks. An additional two are subject to a PUT option worth about R41.5m. Once certain conditions have been fulfilled, Fairvest could take transfer of these properties in March. The first tranche was sold at an initial yield of 10.25 percent.