Building on Spanish attraction
Vukile likely to appear on more investors’ radars following the R2.8bn acquisition of nine retail parks in Spain
Real estate punters looking to share in the upside offered by Spain’s economic recovery now have another route into the country via Vukile Property Fund.
Until now, investors who wanted exposure to Spain’s retail property market via the JSE could obtain it through three offshore counters: Intu Properties, Hammerson, and Schroder European Real Estate Investment Trust.
However, the Spanish exposure of all three of these funds represents a fairly small portion of overall assets. In contrast, Vukile has identified Spain as a key growth destination through a tie-up with Castellana Properties, founded in Spain two years ago by SA property entrepreneur Lee Morze, who is now based in Madrid.
Vukile is the only Sa-based property counter that has to date ventured into Spain.
In December, it invested R200m in Castellana, which at the time owned two Spanish call centres. Then, earlier this week, it bumped up its investment in the company to a substantial R3bn following the acquisition of nine retail parks across Spain for R2.8bn (€193m).
The deal takes Vukile’s exposure to Spain to a sizeable 16% of total assets of R18.7bn in one fell swoop (see graph). The investment also boosts Vukile’s total offshore interests to around 21% of assets if one includes the company’s R900m stake in Uk-focused Atlantic Leaf Properties.
Vukile’s SA portfolio includes stakes in East Rand Mall, Dobsonville Shopping Centre in Soweto and the recently redeveloped Randburg Square. It also has a stake in Fairvest, which owns a portfolio of shopping centres that cater mainly for lower-income shoppers.
“Vukile now offers the most focused exposure to Spanish property available in the SA Reit