Property Transactions
• Octodec Investments Limited concluded a private placement through which an amount of R202,7 million was raised. The equity capital raised will be used to repay debt in the short term and thereafter fund several new developments and acquisitions, including a residential development adjacent to the Union Buildings in Pretoria.
• ApexHi Properties Limited has acquired two residential property portfolios for R246 million and will invest a further R91 million in refurbishing costs in a joint venture with residential specialists, Aengus Property Holdings. The Dunwell portfolio consists of 15 residential properties located in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. The Softstone portfolio consists of nine residential properties in Hospital Hill, Johannesburg CBD, Hillbrow, Braamfontein, Parktown and Berea.
• iFour Properties Limited is growing its portfolio with the R60 million, 8,000m2 Nongoma Shopping Centre in KwaZulu Natal, which is scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2008. It has also acquired a 50% interest in the R180 million Siyabuswa Mall in Mpumalanga which is due for completion towards the end of 2008 and has purchased the 6,900m2 Botlokwa Plaza on the N1 highway 47km north of Polokwane.
• In response to strong demand for retail space, a number of expansion projects are currently underway at Hyprop Investments Limited shopping centres. At The Glen Shopping Centre the R8,7 million extension of the banking arena began in August 2007 at an estimated yield of 17%. Canal Walk’s new Mr Price Home store should be completed by November 2007, adding 3,500m2 to the centre at a cost of R32,4 million and a yield of 13%. The R5,7 million conversion of unused cinema theatres into a Sportmans Warehouse store should be complete at the same time, at an initial yield of 18%. Hyprop’s newest centre, Southcoast Mall, which is co-owned by Redefine Income Fund, is expanding with a 1,000m2 Boardmans scheduled for completion in October 2007 at a cost of R6 million and an initial yield of 9,5%. A further number of future development projects have been identified including the 19,000m2 expansion at The Glen and the application for 16,000m2 of extra retail rights at Canal Walk.
• Hyprop Investments Limited is investing R544 million in the new 50 000m2 lifestyle retail centre, Stoneridge Centre in Greenstone Park, Modderfontein. The centre is scheduled for completion in October 2008 at an initial yield of 9%.
• Vukile Property Fund’s asset manager, Sanlam Properties, has appointed Gensec Property Services (trading as JHI), Hermans and Roman Property Solutions and Kuper Legh Property Management to manage Vukile’s R3,86 billion property portfolio.
• Two new Diversified Property Fund acquisitions are Kathu Mall and Sterkspruit Plaza. Kathu is situated in the Northern Cape about 250km from Kimberley, and is the centre of the Northern Cape iron ore mining industry. The some 17,800m2, enclosed Kathu Mall is scheduled to open in December 2008 with major national tenants Woolworths, Foschini, Mr. Price, Ackermans, Super Spar and Pep. Diversified will purchase the new development at a 9% forward yield from developer, Tibo Terblanche. Sterkspruit Plaza in the Eastern Cape is some 227km southeast of Bloemfontein. The development return on the R106 million, 10,000m2 shopping centre is at 9%. The Plaza’s scheduled opening is December 2008 and major tenants included in pre-leasing are Spar, Pep, Mr. Price, OK Furniture and FNB.
• Aon South Africa has signed a new year lease over 12,000m2 of premium office space in Growthpoint Properties Limited’s The Place at 1 Sandton Drive, claiming the prestigious top two floors of this landmark corporate office building.
• Premium Properties Limited concluded a private placement through which an amount of R188,6 million was raised. The equity capital raised will be used to repay debt in the short term and thereafter fund several new developments and acquisitions, including a mixed-use development in Hatfield, Pretoria comprising of 660 residential units and 4,000m2 of retail space.
• International company DHL Global Forwarding has taken a full 1,800m2 block in the first phase of Redefine Income Fund’s CTX Freight Park, superbly located adjacent to Cape Town International Airport. DHL will be increasing its premises by some 550m2 in the move. This
extends DHL’s relationship with Redefine as DHL is currently a tenant in Redefine’s Eagle Park. In addition DHL Excel Supply Chain will move into an additional 19,388m2 in Redefine’s Wingfield Park, Isando, from March 2008. Its occupancy in the building will increase to 34,729m2, which equates to approximately 63% of the entire park.
• As part of its overall BEE and transformation strategy Redefine Income Fund has reached agreement with black-owned Mergence Africa Holdings (Proprietary) Limited to establish an enterprise development initiative to be known as Mergence Africa Property Fund (Proprietary) Limited which will make a major contribution to skills development in the property industry. Mergence Africa Property Fund will have
an initial property portfolio valued at some R230 million and will be owned by Redefine (49%) and Mergence (51%).
• Pangbourne Properties Limited currently
has a development pipeline of R2 billion including: the 12,000m2 Kildrummy Office Park on the corner of Witkoppen and Umhlanga Roads in Paulshof, Johannesburg; Raceway Industrial Parkway on the site of the former WesBank Raceway in Germiston and Pamona Industrial Park, next to the new freight terminal at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg.
• CBS Property Portfolio is delisting from the JSE Limited following the approval of the PIC’s take over of this property loan stock. PIC sees this acquisition, with its focus on premium grade offices, as a springboard for a national footprint with a team of qualified people which can be leveraged across the country.
• Growthpoint Properties Limited has achieved a Moody’s Investor Services rating in excess of the South African Government sovereign ceiling for the notes issued during its most recent commercial mortgage backed securitization (CMBS) in November 2006. All the notes issued under Series Three of Growthpoint Notes Issuer Company, the issuer company for Growthpoint Properties Limited, have been upgraded by Moody’s Investor Services to an Aaa equivalent rating on a Global Local Currency (GLC) rating. Growthpoint is the only single borrower CMBS deal in the South African market to be awarded an Aaa GLC rating and thus leads the global market in South African securitisation credit rating.
