Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) listed property investment company RDC Properties Limited has announced the conclusion of its acquisition of Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) listed property company, Tower Property Fund. The acquisition follows the recent approval of the transaction by Tower Property Fund shareholders.
The green light was secured at an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders of Tower Property Fund on November 24, 2021 when all resolutions required to implement the transaction were passed by a 98 percent majority of the meeting. There being no subsequent challenge to the transaction, the South African Takeover Regulation Panel declared the transaction unconditional on earlier this month (December 8, 2021), consequently paving the way for finalisation.
RDC Executive Chairman Guido Giachetti said they were very excited about acquisition, calling it a significant milestone in the ground-breaking transaction which has been underway for a year, with Tower Property Fund now a wholly owned subsidiary of RDC. “This is a landmark acquisition for us which will have a fundamental effect on our business operations and ushers in a new era at RDC as a truly diversified, proudly Botswana property business,” Giachettie said this week.
Tower Property Fund owns an SA domiciled portfolio of mixed use, retail and high quality office properties predominantly in Western Cape, Gauteng and some exposure in KwaZulu-Natal, as well as a large stabilised Euro based portfolio in Croatia. The company’s flagship properties include the iconic Cape Quarter, a landmark retail and office precinct in Cape Town, Sunclare, an anchor property in the highly successful decentralised node of Claremont, and VMD Towers in Zagreb – one of the European City’s latest landmarks.
The Tower acquisition consequently more than doubles the total value of the RDC portfolio from P2, 3bn to R5, 8bn.
RDC said they were proud to contribute to the diversification of the Botswana economy as the growth of the foreign property portfolio and in particular the income flowing from these investments back to Botswana will benefit a large pool of local unitholders creating an international hedge for future generations. Through an enlarged management team, RDC says they will be able to take advantage of more sophisticated and deeper property markets enabling the company to take up opportunities further afield for the benefit of its unitholders.
“As a BSE listed company this transaction has been a major achievement at diversifying our portfolio and mitigating against market risks, and is testament that a Botswana company can grow beyond our borders and compete with the best anywhere in the world. With the growth of the company the biggest beneficiaries are our unitholders from the institutional shareholders, Botswana pension funds and ordinary Batswana, and we are proud to be able to deliver this value for their investment,” Giachetti said.
The Process will culminate in the listing of the new RDC shares on the BSE just before Christmas, and the delisting of the Tower shares from the JSE approximately a week later.
RDC Properties Limited is the first property listed company on the Botswana Stock Exchange, registered in 1992 and re-listed in a Variable Rate Loan stock in 1996.
“The company actively achieves long-term, income-generating investments in a diverse range of property sectors, ensuring a stable growth to the investor. The growth of the portfolio is achieved by acquisitions of yielding properties, developments and acquiring turn-key developments carried out under our management oversight,” the company says.
“Our properties, generally considered of a prime nature are now geographically situated in Botswana, South Africa, Croatia, Madagascar, we are presently carrying out developments in Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique and the USA, each property and all developments are selected to provide a strong revenue and substantial capital growth.”
The company says they are committed to achieving exceptional returns by creating partnerships with local investors, diversifying the portfolio geographically within the Southern African region and taking advantage of sectors of the economy that are foreign currency hedged and captive. “We are driven by our strategic purpose of owning and managing assets that add value to the communities we serve.”
