Vukile Property Fund will appoint respected stalwart of South Africa’s listed property sector, Laurence Cohen, as its new Chief Financial Officer.

Hyprop Investments Limited (Hyprop), the specialist shopping centre REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) today announced that it has acquired a 60% interest in Serbian mall, Delta City Belgrade purchased from Delta Real Estate Group (Delta), a private Serbian company and Montenegrin mall, Delta City Podgorica, purchased from Hemslade Trading Limited Cyprus (Hemslade) and Delta.

The SA REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) sector has published Best Practice Recommendations that will make financial reporting of South African REITs clearer and more comparable.

Mr. Laurence Cohen, BCom, CA(SA), is the Financial Director of Hyprop Investments Ltd.

Laurence joined the group in 2003 as financial director of Hyprop management company, after spending three years in Grant Thornton's corporate finance division.

He has been extensively involved in various aspects of the Hyprop business during his tenure with the company.

Laurence also chairs the accounting and JSE committee of the SA REIT Association, and serves on its executive committee.

A new era of best practice accounting disclosure and reporting standards for South Africa's REIT sector will be announced at the first ever SA REIT Conference in Sandton.

Hyprop announced a favourable restructuring of its debt facilities, with the conversion of R648 million in conventional bank loans into debt capital market (“DCM”) funding.

Retail-focused Hyprop Investments has announced the appointment of Mike Rodel as CEO with effect from August, to oversee the completion of the company’s R663m expansion programme launched last year.