Shree Properties, bank cement ties

DURBAN-BASED Shree Property Holdings has secured a R1 billion debt facility from the Standard Bank Group to enable the company to refinance existing loan facilities and acquire new properties to add to its industrial property portfolio in KwaZulu-Natal.

The Shree Property Holdings portfolio comprises more than 30 properties located in three key industrial nodes within Durban’s South Industrial Basin, Riverhorse Valley and the Dube Trade Port regions.

The group has secured only blue-chip tenants for its developments, including Samsung, SHL, Unilever and TongaatHulett.

Pran Shree, the chief executive of Shree Property Holdings, which has banked with Standard Bank for more than 25 years, said the evolution of their partnership with Standard Bank would enable the group to take their business to the next level and further enhance its footprint both locally and abroad.

“We have already acquired land in Mauritius, the US, India, and the UK and we are looking to leverage these properties into future growth opportunities,” he said.

Shree Property Holdings has commenced with its internationalisation strategy into the Southern African Development Community (SADC) regions and construction will start in the third quarter of this year on a project Mauritius Airport, which will be its springboard onto the global platform.

Partnership

Vanessa Murray, the head of real estate finance wholesale at Standard Bank, said the debt facility it had granted to Shree Property Holdings was a key win for Standard Bank in the KwaZulu-Natal and Durban market.

“This is a client that we have grown with for over a quarter century, and assisted in growing his business from an initial cold-storage and distribution operation, with a key presence in the fruit industry, into a multi-billion rand property and development business,” she said.

Murray added that the bank’s partnership with Shree Property Holdings would result in it realigning its banking offering to enable the developer to grow locally as well as into Africa and internationally.