Investec Australia Property fund debuts on JSE

Investec Australia Property Fund (IAPF‚ IAP) on Thursday listed on the main board of the JSE in the real estate — real estate holdings and development sector.

The company would provide South African investors with access to the Australian property market‚ it said.

By 9.42am‚ the share was trading at R10.15‚ with about 724‚827 shares having traded so far.

IAPF nonexecutive director Sam Leon said: “The investor interest which resulted in a significant over subscription is testament to the relative value and unique offering for the South African investor to gain direct exposure to Australian real estate as well as spread currency risk.

IAPF has an established management team on the ground in Australia as well as a highly experienced board of directors with both Australian and South African representation.”

IAPF is an Australian domiciled real estate investment trust inwardly listed on the JSE; Investec Property Ltd (Australia) operates and governs the fund.

On listing‚ IAPF has an initial portfolio independently valued at A4129.9m.

The company said that the portfolio comprised a mix of six logistics and warehouse properties and two high-quality A grade office buildings‚ all of which were well located in established commercial precincts and major metropolitan areas in Australia‚ such as Melbourne‚ Canberra‚ Brisbane and Adelaide.

IAPF was projected to deliver an initial return of about 7%‚ and was completely ungeared‚ which compared favourably with its peers in the South African listed property sector.

Initial new acquisitions would be funded from debt at highly attractive rates‚ which had already been secured with a major Australian bank.