South African largest property fund begins its acquisition trail into Africa

Thomas Reilly, MD of Growthpoint Investec African Property Management, says, “GIAP has strategically timed its entry into the market to take advantage of a highly attractive entry-point into key cities which we view as offering strong growth prospects.

Growthpoint Investec African Properties (GIAP), the pan-African real estate investment business managed by Growthpoint Investec African Property Management, has begun executing on its strategy to aggregate a quality portfolio of prime income-producing commercial assets in Africa.

The news comes after South Africa's largest listed specialized shopping centre real estate investment trust, Hyprop announced on Friday that AttAfrica Limited, in which it owns a 37.5 percent stake, had concluded an agreement to dispose of its interest in Achimota Retail Centre in Ghana.

GIAP, established as a joint venture between Growthpoint Properties, the largest real estate group in the South Africa, and Investec Asset Management, announced today that it has successfully concluded the acquisition of 97.5% of Achimota Retail Centre, a prime shopping centre in Accra, Ghana.

This transaction marks the first of a pipeline of assets currently being negotiated for acquisition by GIAP. Achimota Retail Centre in north-eastern Accra includes approximately 15,000sqm of retail space occupied by more than 50 retailers, including big names Game, Shoprite, Mr Price, Pizza Hut and KFC.

GIAP also expects to announce a further acquisition of another key asset in the near term.

In 2018, GIAP secured capital commitments of more than US$212 million from several large institutional and international investors. Given the current pipeline of assets under discussion, GIAP’s capital is likely to be fully invested by the end of 2019, and its investments further diversified across the office, retail and industrial sectors.

Achimota Retail Centre has been acquired from AttAfrica, a joint venture of JSE-listed REITs Attacq Limited and Hyprop Investments Limited, and certain minority shareholders.

Thomas Reilly, MD of Growthpoint Investec African Property Management, says, “GIAP has strategically timed its entry into the market to take advantage of a highly attractive entry-point into key cities which we view as offering strong growth prospects. We have adopted a very considered asset acquisition strategy with the result of being able to source quality yielding assets at very competitive prices. The business is enjoying significant momentum at the moment, and we expect this to aid the delivery of sustainable long-term investor returns.”

The second transaction is expected to be finalised within the next month, after which further details will be made available.

GIAP is expected to aid the development of local African real estate markets and to contribute to the wide-ranging developmental impact which real estate can have in such markets.