Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa October 2016 | Page 12

MASTER INVESTOR

MASTER INVESTOR

houses , as well as shopping centres focused on transportation nodes . They have substantial holdings in the offshore companies
Zidel attributes a lot of his success to timing . “ The strategy to go offshore paid off and has given our funds and SA investors rand hedge exposure NEPI has shown over 12 % per annum growth in Euros every year since listing , while the size and liquidity matter , and the inclusion into local and foreign Indexes give the shares a huge growth in price and brought in new investors . When REIT legislation eventually happened , it gave certainty on tax issues and attracted foreign investors . ( SA is now 8th biggest REIT Industry in the world ).”
About Fortress Fund Fortress Income Fund was listed on the JSE on 22nd October 2009 . The company is an innovative hybrid property REIT , which has two separate listings . Fortress “ A ” is for the conservative investor and pension fund which receives a fixed annual increase in distribution of the lower of 5 % or CPI . The share listed at R9 and is now approx R16.20 a share .
Fortress “ B ” is for the more adventurous investor who backs management to out perform . Once the “ A ” share distribution is paid all the increase in growth of distribution goes to the “ B ” shareholders . The increase distribution for year ended 30 June 2016 was 95.28 %
The share price on listing seven years ago was R1.00 it is now approx R33 per share . It is a part of the Top 40 Index on JSE . Fortress “ B ”
was The Sunday Times Top Company of 2015 , having shown growth of over 75 % per annum for each of the last five years . At the end of 2015 Fortress Incorporated Capital Property Fund took its market capitalisation to just over R55 billion . They also recently made an offer to do the same with Lodestone . “ I am sure that going forward that with Mark Stevens the dynamic CEO and his team , Fortress will continue to grow .”
For the future Zidel has the following plans in store . “ We aim to keep investing in NEPI , Rockcastle , Greenbay and Hammerson giving rand hedges in dollars , Euros and pounds , and keep developing large logistics warehouse and leasing to blue chip tenants on long leases .” Fortress is about to start the development of a logistic park of approximately 370 000sq m on old Clairwood racetrack in KZN to top international standards and quality of approx .

TOP 5 INVESTMENT TIPS

1 Do research and stratergise- don ’ t be afraid to change focus - “ adapt or die ” 2 Property fundamentals are crucial , don ’ t compromise ! 3 Buy listed property both local and with offshore exposure . 4 Location , location , location 5 Don ’ t shy away from partnerships .
Jeff Zidel President of the South African Council of Shopping Centres , speaks with Neale Petersen about local property investment in the latter half of 2016 . Visit REIM TV for more in depth investment insights
10 OCTOBER 2016 SA Real Estate Investor www . reimag . co . za