GIAP, initially established as a joint venture between Growthpoint Properties and Investec Asset Management, announced today that it has successfully concluded the acquisition of 100% of RMB Westport Real Estate Development Fund Limited (RMB Westport), the entity which houses the assets developed and owned by RMB Westport’s inaugural property development fund.

This transaction follows the recently announced GIAP acquisitions of Achimota Retail Centre in Ghana and Manda Hill Shopping Centre in Zambia, which were acquired in June and July respectively of this year. The acquisition of the RMB Westport portfolio of assets is a significant leap for the business and gives GIAP an asset base of approximately US$500 million and a presence across a number of Sub-Saharan African countries with the majority of exposure in key cities in Ghana, Nigeria and Zambia.

GIAP expects to announce progress regarding further acquisitions in due course.

In 2018, GIAP secured capital commitments of more than US$212 million from several large institutional and international investors. The acquisition of RMB Westport has resulted in GIAP’s initial commitments being fully invested, with the existing RMB Westport investors additionally having agreed to invest into GIAP as part of the transaction, further boosting the market capitalisation of the business.

Thomas Reilly, MD of Growthpoint Investec African Properties, says, “GIAP has successfully concluded the acquisition of RMB Westport, which marks a significant leap in GIAP’s evolution and undoubtedly positions it as one of the leading Sub-Saharan African firms in the industry. GIAP now owns 11 assets across four countries, with arguably some of the best performing landmark assets across both the retail and office sectors in the cities we are focussing on.

These assets are predominantly well-matured and allows GIAP a significant amount of relevance in these markets, however they still have capacity to allow GIAP to enhance and extract growth from assets with a high degree of resilience to differing market cycles.”

Reilly adds, “We are excited to once again take advantage of a highly attractive entry-point in the cycle, adding quality yielding assets in select cities to our asset base at competitive prices, which we believe have the potential to offer strong growth prospects. The business continues to enjoy significant momentum, and we expect this to aid in the delivery of sustainable long-term investor returns.”

GIAP is expected to support the development of capital markets for real estate as an asset class across the countries in which it operates, thereby contributing to the wide-ranging developmental impact which the real estate sector can have in such markets.