ANOTHER black-owned and operated property management company, Hermans & Roman, has been launched, this time by former Intersite Property Management executive Kevin Roman and former David Newham Property Group financial director Leslie Hermans.

Roman says the new company is SA's first national empowerment property management company.

The few other black property management companies that exist are regionally based, like Dijalo, which operates in Johannesburg.

The firm's portfolio is spread across four provinces Western Cape, Gauteng, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. Roman says it is looking at other provinces as well.

Harmans & Roman comes to the market with property assets valued at R350m and representing 100000m² in its portfolio.

Roman says the company aims to have a portfolio worth more than R500m by June, and to boost that value above R1bn in a year.

Assets include a R250m portfolio from Future Growth, a fund management firm in the FirstRand stable, and the rest from a host of other portfolios including organisations such as Avmin. About 80% of the portfolio comprises retail properties and the rest offices.

Hermans & Roman has gone into a sector expecting a major boost from restructuring of government management policy, which could deliver lucrative management contracts from its R120bn portfolio.

Roman says the company is looking at both the public and private sectors for growth.

'There remains a lack of skills in the commercial property sector and the new company will, along with a strong empowerment ethos, insist on comprehensive staff education, equal opportunity and advancement,' says Roman.

Unlike most other empowerment models, all the equity in Hermans & Roman is held by the directors, who are also the firm's active managers, he says. Its services will encompass rent collection, facility management, leasing and property asset management.