AFRICA
Innovative strategies essential to capture
African Property Growth
How are real estate industry leaders making their mark ?
BY DREW HOOK
Despite Africa ’ s slowdown ; multinational companies , retailers , property developers and private equity funds continue to invest in the continent , but with more focused strategies . The effects of currency and liquidity crises has been sharply felt across the continent but most notably in the larger oil driven commodity exporting countries . This has resulted in a shift towards economic diversification and countries in the East African region providing more economic stability than others .
Furthermore , the continent has seen an increase in global capital flows into African real estate as well as a number of large international retailers and developers making their mark by entering the continent with ambitious plans . The last year has seen Actis , RMB Westport & Growthpoint successfully raising capital from global funds such as GIC Singapore , Grosvenor ( USA ) and The IFC . The Africa Property Investment ( API ) Summit is the leading African focused real estate forum which brings together the most influential property players from around the continent . The API Summit offers unrivalled access to new development strategies , the largest number of showcase projects and new sources of capital across the African continent . The summit is the perfect opportunity to leverage off the expertise and knowledge of key industry players . “ This year ’ s summit will feature various discussions on strategy and collaboration , as well as showcasing new real estate opportunities and projects across Africa . Whilst uncertainty remains , we believe that African property is still poised for growth , albeit at a lower but more sustainable level ,” says Kfir Rusin , General Manager , API Events . The two-day conference will be held from 18-19 August 2016 at the Sandton Convention Centre
in Johannesburg . It will feature Broll , Mara Delta , Knight Frank , Old Mutual , STANLIB , Standard Bank , Novare , RMB Westport , JLL , ALN , ITL , Actis , Growthpoint , UPDC , Britam , Fusion Capital , PIC and Heriot to name a few .
Bronwyn Corbett , CEO of Mara Delta says , “ The company remains bullish under the African growth story . We have built extensive IP into our target countries and see tremendous growth in these markets that we are levering to build an Africa powerhouse real estate fund . Focus is on the strength of the county party and mitigation of risks to build a quality portfolio and deliver substantial returns to shareholders .”
While challenges still remain , there has been an influx of capital , into the continent , with a number of global DFI ’ s , SWF ’ s , pension funds and private equity firms fueling new developments . Peter Welborn , chairman of Knight Franks ’ Africa business says that “ The underlying investment theme across sub-Saharan Africa , over the next decade will undoubtedly be driven by substantial allocations of equity , into JV ’ s with successful local partners . Both the west African retail sector as well as the southern and east Africa logistics sectors will be high on the hit list of international capital .” API Summit is the most valuable two days on the African Real Estate calendar - the only event where all prominent industry players converge . “ We can already confirm over 500 guests , 65 + Industry leading speakers from over 25 countries , representation from 200 + companies and over 35 confirmed sponsors .! API Events is well on its way to deliver the largest and most informative African real estate summit to date !” concludes Rusin .
52 OCTOBER 2016 SA Real Estate Investor www . reimag . co . za