Hyprop, Attacq in joint mall acquisition

LISTED retail property fund Hyprop and Attacq, the listed real estate capital growth fund, have jointly acquired the Ikeja City Mall in Lagos in Nigeria in a deal worth a total of $155 million (R2.23 billion).

Hyprop has acquired a 75 percent interest in the mall and Attacq the remaining 25 percent.

Hyprop shares on the JSE were up 1.23 percent to R121.30, which valued the company at R29.5 billion, and Attacq shares added 0.93 percent yesterday to R20.69, which put the group’s market value at R15.5bn.

It was acquired from Actis, a leading emerging markets investor, RMB Westport, a prominent sub-Saharan Africa real estate investment management and development group, and leading Nigerian investor group Paragon Holdings.

Pieter Prinsloo, the chief executive of Hyprop, said yesterday the overall price paid for the mall was $155m and Hyprop had settled its portion through the payment of $70m in cash and the balance in bank finance. Ikeja City Mall is both Hyprop’s and Attacq’s first investments in Nigeria.

Prinsloo said the mall was an attractive investment and complemented Hyprop’s strategy of investing in high quality, income producing shopping centres in key cities across sub Saharan Africa.

Combined expertise

“Hyprop is well placed to capitalise on opportunities across sub-Saharan Africa, due to its partnership with the Atterbury Group and Attacq, whose combined expertise facilitates exploiting opportunities as they arise,” he said.

Morné Wilken, the chief executive of Attacq, said it had paid cash for its strategic investment in the mall, which formed part of Attacq’s larger African investment strategy.

Wilken said Nigeria was an African market with fantastic growth prospects and its investment in Ikeja City Mall added to its investment in the growing portfolio of dominant, quality retail malls in sub-Saharan Africa. Ikeja City Mall is the largest mall in Lagos. Located in Ikeja, a suburb of Lagos with a population of 4.5 million people, it comprises more than 22 000m2 and its tenant mix is anchored by Shoprite.

Its South African brands included Mr Price, Spur, MTN and Markham and international brands Nike, Lacoste, Tommy Hilfiger, TM Lewin, Mango, i-Store, KFC, and Max Fashion. The mall opened its doors in December 2011 and today attracts up to 800 000 shoppers a month.

Actis has sold its 60 percent majority stake while Paragon Holdings and RMB Westport have both sold their 20 percent stakes in the mall.

David Morley, head of

real estate at Actis, said the sale reflected the strong retail opportunity in West Africa and the interest of quality institutional investors in sub-Saharan real estate assets.

A-grade assets

“This is the sixth exit from the first Actis real estate fund. It is a continuation of Actis’ proven cash to cash track record of delivering A-grade real estate assets in sub Saharan Africa, positioned to be attractive to both international and local institutional buyers.

“Over two funds, Actis has committed to 17 institutional quality developments in seven countries totalling a gross asset value of $1.3bn,” he said.

Michael O’Malley, a director of RMB Westport, said they had earmarked a number of sub-Saharan Africa territories as key jurisdictions in which to develop retail and commercial property.

He said private consumption was increasingly emerging as one of the key drivers of growth in African economies.