Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa February 2014 | Page 11

UPFRONT

D

e s de B e er, CEO of R e si l ient
Property Income Fund, is officially
the wealthiest real estate mogul in
South Africa, according to the latest 2013
Sunday Times Rich List. His shareholding in
listed property companies consists of 7.45%
of Resilient Property Income Fund, 5.33%
of Capital Property Fund and 0.75% of New
Europe Property Investments plc (NEPI),
which puts his personal wealth at just over
R1.8 billion and 22nd across all categories on
the Rich List.
De Beer is reserved about his personal and
his company’s financial success and quickly
points out that many other wealthy real estate
tycoons are not mentioned on the Rich List,
as their companies are unlisted and many
prefer keeping a low profile. The company’s
wealth is spread widely among his partners,
board members, suppliers and colleagues and
is not only vested himself. He has served on
numerous boards of listed property companies

department, tasked with collecting money on
distressed properties. He feels this is where he
learnt the most about investing and property
finance. He also served as a director of Sycom
Property Fund Managers Limited, which
later merged with Nedbank to become Nedcor
Investment Bank (NIB). From here, de Beer
moved into corporate equities, learning a whole
new set of skills. He was appointed General
Manager Corporate Equity and served on the
bank’s executive committee.
De Beer also gained valuable experience
and knowledge from many clients who were
happy to share their investment approaches
with him. From this he gleaned creative and
powerful investment strategies and tactics at the
investment forefront, which he could apply to
his own property portfolio. He learnt first-hand
how the property market and cycles worked and
how to structure property deals. His knowledge
improved further while serving on the Sycom
board and learning from the doyens of the time,

“He learnt first-hand how the property
market and cycles worked and how to
structure property deals.”
and is currently a director of NEPI, chairing its
investment committee. NEPI has also been a
huge success in the group.
De Beer was born and bred in Johannesburg
but matriculated at Fish Hoek High School
in Cape Town, where he lived for two years.
After school he moved back to Johannesburg
to obtain a BProc degree at Wits University.
After his studies he joined Barclays Bank for
two years before he was called up to do national
service in the army. After returning to Barclays,
he was selected for the bank ’s Executive
Development Programme. He revitalised the
bond department and was appointed manager
at the age of 26 – the fifth youngest manager to
be appointed in the history of the bank.

The property apprentice
De Beer then moved on to join Syfrets Limited,
the biggest commercial property financiers
at the time. He gained valuable experience
in property f inance at Syfrets’ loss control
www.reimag.co.za

such as Gerald Nelson and Pat Flanagan. De
Beer says that there many great ideas around,
but you have to avoid the mistakes - competent
property investors failed mainly because of the
fluctuations in the interest rate.

The investment newbie
D e Beer sta r ted i nve st i ng i n h is ow n
properties in the 1990s, after obtaining
consent from the bank to avoid conf lict of
interest. He started in commercial property,
which was a fairly small sector at the time,
investing in industrial units and small retail
units, mainly in smaller rural towns.
For an individual or smaller investor in
those times, it was not easy getting finance
from the banks. As a result, he accrued most
of his finance for his investments in creative
ways - raising capital from various syndicates
he formed, pooling capital through partnering
with tenants and buying shares in various
properties. His interest in the listed sector

REALE ESTATE BUSINESS DIRECTORY

DES DE BEER
Personal Statistics

Age: 53
Marital Status: Married with 3 children
Experience/Qualifications: B Proc
(Wits University) and MAP
Hobbies: Reading; thinks about business
90% all consuming, road running, family
holidays.

Close-up
Mentors: Peter Gillespie taught Des a lot
about the physical attributes of property.
Jeff Zeidel, co-founder of Resilient,
brought a wealth of retail knowledge.
Books: Biographies and business books.
Biggest Achievement: The listing of
Resilient at R5 a share, which has risen to
R55 over the last 11 years.”
The best financial advice you have
been given? “The fun part of money is
making it! Having it can be a nuisance.”
Motto: Leaving a legacy in which
everybody shares in the wealth together.

grew when f inanciers began look ing for
opportunities to lend money in the property
industry. At the time, Octodec was the only
other listed propert y fund that f inanced
properties. The large corporates such as
Sanlam and Old Mutual financed their own
properties.
Commercial property was the new upcoming
sector and became a target area for finance.
However, structured finance products were
under tax pressure from SARS at the time, so
new tax-efficient methods had to be found.
February 2014 SA Real Estate Investor

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