Morris in driving seat as De Rauville quits Texton

Diversified real estate group Texton Property Fund said on Friday that property industry stalwart Angelique de Rauville had resigned from the company with immediate effect.

Nic Morris would replace De Rauville, who had held the position of acting CEO.

De Rauville also resigned as executive director.

“Angelique has made a significant contribution in progressing the company’s strategy to achieve geographic diversification beyond South African borders and enhancing the platform from which Texton will enter its next phase of growth as a diversified real estate investment trust, with significant international exposure,” said Texton chairman Dempsey Naidoo.

The board said it wished to express its appreciation to De Rauville for her service to Texton and her contribution to the board since her appointment as acting CE in June 2015.

Texton has achieved strong dividend and net asset value growth under De Rauville’s leadership. As CEO, she chose to diversify across assets in the UK and SA.

The company announced robust results in August for the year to June, declaring a dividend of R1.0363 per share, up 9.4% year on year, while its property portfolio value grew 39.3% to R5.77bn.

De Rauville said Texton had had to deal with the pressure on UK real estate following the Brexit vote for the UK to leave the EU, and a slowing South African economy.

“We are not aware of any direct negative impact from Brexit on our UK tenant base, given the strength of our covenants and long-term nature of our leases,” she said.

Texton’s portfolio is geographically split by value between the UK, which accounts for about 40%, and SA, which accounts for about 60%.

“In the next year we may move to being 50% invested in SA and 50% in the UK. I feel SA is overtraded at the moment, and we have found more growth potential in the UK recently,” De Rauville said.