This week Spearhead Property Holdings, the JSE listed property loan stock company that has for almost five years now consistently been among the top performers in the property sector, announced that it had purchased the two year old Knowledge Park office complex at Century City, one of the most avante garde and hi-tech office complexes at the Cape. In doing so, Spearhead has taken a major step forward in fulfilling its promise to its unit holders to upgrade its property portfolio to the point where it is reckoned to be one of the most prestigious amongst its peers.

"This building," says Mike Flax, Spearhead's Chief Executive Officer, "will at once become one of our flagship investments. It is also likely that our image from now on will be at least partially linked with this striking ultra modern complex."

Spearhead have agreed to pay R 48 million to the sellers, in the process raising the asset value of their investment property portfolio to above R 520 million.

Flax's written description to his co-directors makes it clear that he sees this building as one of the top half dozen office complexes at the Cape. It has, he says, 5,787 m2 of high tech office space with basement parking and two large top floor penthouse apartments. It is, he adds, "spectacularly located" on the edge of the Century City wetlands, opposite the landmark Vodacom building and offers panoramic views of the wetlands and Table Mountain. It is within walking distance of the Canal Walk shopping mall and only ten minutes drive from the Cape Town CBD. It also has fast easy access to the airport and links with the Cape's three major freeways.

Knowledge Park, says Flax, also has some of the best shared facilities available to tenants in any Cape building. The list includes a 48 seater auditorium with state of the art data video projectors for DVD and DStv, satellite and email links to all offices, a 16 seater boardroom, a 12 seater meeting room, a coffee bar and a restaurant with a fully equipped kitchen, a computer training room with 12 new computers, bar facilities and a discreetly securitised main foyer with a permanently manned reception desk and waiting lounge.

Within the complex is a courtyard with a fountain. Other facilities include a management suite and computer and telephone patch rooms on every office floor. There is also an 80 m2 gymnasium for the exclusive use of tenants. The 236 parking bays in and around the building give a ratio of four bays per 100 m2.

The building is currently fully let, says Flax, and produces an annual income of just over R8 million. The larger tenants are Discovery Health with 2,833 m2 and Enterprise Insurance, a division of the UK based group of the same name, with 1,338 m2. Other high profile tenants are eTradex, Nuclear Consultants, Intrinsic Technology, Rockwell Automation, PM Tech Holdings and TNT Services and Supplies.

"Most of the tenants," says Flax, "are high tech firms making intensive use of computers and information technology. This building will always attract tenants of that sort and it can therefore be relied to appreciate steadily in value."

The purchase, said Flax, will begin to impact on Spearhead's bottom line from about 2005 onwards.

For further information please contact Mike Flax on 021 425 1000.