Neels Blom

THE MOVE to list Acc-Ross Holdings, the golf estate, residential and leisure property development group, is a brave one indeed. The company — which will have a market capitalisation of just more than R1bn and be listed on the JSE’s AltX — is the first property fund of this kind to list on the JSE.

Most property funds listed on the main board either own a mixture of commercial, retail or industrial properties or have a specialist focus investing solely in retail or industrial properties, for instance.

A property fund such as Acc-Ross Holdings is going to be exposed to a lot more development risk than these other types of funds, and may make investors nervous about investing.

But CEO Jaco Verster says Acc-Ross took the risk out of its developments by ensuring it had the development rights before it took any development to the market. Nevertheless, property pundits are likely to adopt a wait-and-see approach to the fund.

The fund will initially not be on fund managers’ and institutions’ radar because it is on AltX, though there is talk that it will try to move to the main board later.

The introduction of new types of funds coming to market highlights the health and growing sophistication of the industry.

Another new fund to be listed soon is the Hospitality Property Fund, SA’s first hotel and resort property fund.

Last year, Diversified Property Fund, which focuses on rural retail, and Siyathenga, a retail property company, listed on the JSE’s main board. Oasis Crescent Property Fund, a sharia-compliant fund, was also listed on AltX late last year.