Believed to be substantially higher than the initial offer by Hyprop, Acucap's offer could well trigger a price war for Cenprop's assets which could boost distribution to the shareholders.

Some Cenprop shareholders have expressed concern about the recent evaluation of the group's assets preceding the Hyprop offer. The evaluation shaved off about R136m of the Cenprop property assets.

Cenprop assets were put on sale following a decision by the group to wind up. The reasons for winding up were that the fund had become unbalanced because 75% of its portfolio was represented by two properties, The Mall of Rosebank and JHI House.

Hyprop made a R305m offer for the two properties and has reached a conditional agreement with Cenprop.

However, Cenprop has said it would consider better offers.

Acucap released a cautionary notice on Monday saying it was in negotiations with Cenprop over the acquisition of The Mall and JHI House.

Acucap executive director Paul Theodosiou declined to release details of the offer citing the cautionary but said 'we believe it is substantially better than Hyprop's offer'.

He said their offer came out of a thorough due diligence process and was not a blind attempt to beat the Hyprop offer.

'We believe we have made a fair offer,' said Theodosiou.

Hyprop has in the initial agreement reserved for itself the right to make a counter offer. Hyprop spokesperson said their offer to Cenprop and the agreement stands.

Cenprop asset manager Charles Ryan said the final decision would come from shareholders. The offers would first be referred to independent financial advisers who would then make a recommendation to the board.