Acquires two new portfolios worth R477m

GEMGROW Properties, the listed property company previously named Synergy, has acquired two property portfolios in separate transactions worth a total of R477 million.

The company said yesterday the first transaction was a retail portfolio valued at R330m in Louis Trichardt, acquired at 12 percent forward yield.

The second transaction involves the acquisition of a diversified portfolio valued at R147m acquired at 11.5 percent forward yield.

Both acquisitions are still subject to the fulfilment of various conditions and were concluded after the six months to March.

Investment property increased in the reporting period to R4.3 billion from R2.4bn.

This was attributable to an asset exchange with listed Vukile Property Fund of 14 retail assets valued at R2.4bn in exchange for 29 retail, office and industrial properties.

Gemgrow also acquired 100 properties valued at R1.9bn from Arrowhead. Following the implementation of these transactions, Gemgrow issued 22.94m B-shares to Vukile and 271.4m B-shares to Arrowhead.

This means Arrowhead holds 61.7 percent of the issued Gemgrow B-shares, which constitute about 55.2 percent of Gemgrow’s issued share capital, while Vukile holds 29.5 percent of the Gemgrow B-shares and 27.4 percent of Gemgrow’s total issued share capital.

Gemgrow owns a portfolio of 129 retail, industrial and office properties valued at R4.3bn, located across all the provinces in South Africa.

Gemgrow released its maiden interim results yesterday and declared a dividend share of 24.85 cents per A share and 18.15c a B share for the quarter ended March 31. Its chief operating officer, Alon Kirkel, said it would meet its dividend forecast.

Gemgrow shares closed flat at R10.03 on the JSE yesterday. – Roy Cokayne

The Dis-Chem head office. The group said it believed that the wholesale space was now fully invested in order to accommodate the retail and wholesale growth strategies over the next three to five years.