attractive opportunity and if being directly invested in
the stock market is their preferred entry point.
In uncertain economic times investors tend to revert
to what they believe to be safe haven investments.
Central London property, from residential to
commercial, has benefited from its perceived safe
haven status in the current uncertain economic times.
Capital & Counties Properties (CapCo), listed both
in London and Johannesburg, was and continues to be
perfectly positioned to benefit through its £1.7 billlion
investment portfolio in the Covent Garden precinct,
Olympia Exhibition Centre and the potential mixed
use development and regeneration at the Earls Court
Exhibition Centre. For investors preferring exposure
to shopping centres, CapCo’s pervious sister company,
Intu Properties (formerly named Capital Shopping
Centres), provides an easy entry point as it is also
listed both in London and Johannesburg. Intu’s key
attraction is its concentrated shopping centre portfolio
consisting of 16 shopping centres across England,
Wales and Scotland located within most of the major
urban nodes in the UK.
Although the United Kingdom seems to be a first
stop for most South African investors, shopping
centre exposure can also be gained in Romania via
the locally listed New Europe Property Investments
(Nepi). With most of its shareholder base also South
African, Nepi provides exposure to mostly Romanian
assets, many of which are retail, in a previously
underser viced consumer market with growth
potential. Also like Nepi, out of the stable of a major
local listed real estate stock, is Redefine International.
Redefine International has a collection of investments
in UK retail, hotels and offices, German retail and
Australian offices; thereby offering an investor
exposure to a diversified asset base and risks spread
accordingly.
Smaller locally listed real estate stocks, and thereby
limited liquidity, with offshore property exposure
www.reimag.co.za
includes MAS and GoGlobal. Both of these counters
are in the process of building up portfolios; MAS
with a UK development angle, while GoGlobal has
an initial German retail focus. MAS’s shareholders
have created long-term value through South African
real estate development, while GoGlobal should offer
a defensive income stream, thereby both warranting
a closer look as they gather momentum in creating
critical mass.
A fr ica cou ld create at t ractive investment
opportunities in the medium to long term. Besides
South Africa, sub-Saharan Africa has underdeveloped
commercial real estate markets with various
multinational corporates and local and international
retailers wanting to expand into these markets. At
present it remains difficult for an individual investor
to gain exposure to this opportunity as most of the
capital still comes from institutional investors. On
the local stock market direct and indirect exposure
can however be obtained. Rockcastle is a Mauritian
and South African listed real estate company that
aims to have exposure to direct real estate in subSaharan Africa excluding South Africa and Nigeria.
At present most of the underlying investments are in
global REITs and should start to partially migrate to
direct real estate as opportunities to either develop
or acquire are exploited. Indirect exposure to subSaharan real estate can be gained via local listed real
estate players Resilient and Hyprop. Resilient has
set up a joint venture to develop retail properties in
Nigeria, which should start to come through in the
next 18 to 24 months. In turn Hyprop has entered
into a joint venture with local real estate developer
Atterbury to build up a sub-Saharan direct real estate
portfolio. Its first retail property investment has been
made in Ghana with the immediate potential to
develop further retail properties in that country.
RESOURCES
Catalyst
Offshore Handbook 2013
13