Grove mall to be sold for N$1.8 billion
• By Confidente reporter
Acompany listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)- Atterbury Group is reportedly in talks with two Zimbabwean financial companies, Stratus Capital Partners (an asset management firm) and Bard Santner Markets Inc (a new Harare-based financial advisory firm) to buy Grove Mall property in Namibia, Windhoek for a reported fee of around U$113 million (N$1.8 billion).
Bard is the leading financial adviser, while the Chikuni Shenjere-Mutiswa-led Straus Capital partners brokered the deal.
Shenjere-Mutiswa is an experienced chartered financial analyst, while Bard is led by local banker Senziwani Sikhosana, who has over two decades experience in banking, investment, and capital markets.
According to market sources, Bard and Strufor a reported fee of N$1.8 billion to Zimbabwean investors which has an annual turnover of around N$890 million (US$56 million).
Bard is led by banker Senziwani Sikhosana, who has over two decades experience in banking, investment, property, and capital and money markets dealings.
Questions sent to Atterbury Group went unanswered.
Although no confirmation was given at this stage however sources has said that the deal is at an advanced stage.
At Bard, Sikhosana works with a local business consortium which includes Tatenda Hungwe, Alfred Mthimkhulu and international finance expert VinodBussawah from Mauritius.
Atterbury is a real estate development, investment and management company. It develops prime mixed-use, commercial, retail and industrial properties.
From its South African roots, Atterbury has spread its wings across Africa and Europe.
Atterbury has developed many properties in South Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and Europe worth billions.
On when the deal is expected to be finalized, the source said different stakeholders are still negotiating but at an advanced stage.
The source further said there seem to be a huge interested from Zimbabwean investors.
“The annual turnover is quite huge and it’s pulling potential investors especially from Zimbabwe. But no time frame is given to when the deal is expected to befinalized,” the source said.
Early this year, the central bank announced that Zimbabwe recorded its highest ever foreign currency receipts of U$9.7 billion in 2021, an increase of 53.5 percent from 2020 with the previous record being U$7.6 billion in 2013.
Until relatively recently, pension funds invested primarily in stocks and bonds, often using a liability-matching strategy. Now they increasingly invest in a variety of asset classes, including private equity, real estate, infrastructure, and securities, to hedge inflation.
The current Pension and Provident Funds Act in Zimbabwe is being amended through the Pensions and Provident Funds Bill to modernise and strengthen the regulation and supervision of the pensions industry while giving them flexibility to invest in other markets.
There has been very little legislation on the subject of pension’s law, with the current law statute having been promulgated in 1976.
However, the adoption of the 2013 constitution and the Justice Smith Commission of Inquiry of 2017 has brought with it great optimism and potential enormous impact on the pensions sector.
*Additional information by newsday.
co.zw