Rebosis buys Sunnypark Shopping Centre in Pretoria

Rebosis Property Fund (REB)‚ a substantially black-held property company which listed on the JSE last year‚ said on Thursday it had concluded agreements for the acquisition of the Sunnypark Shopping Centre in Pretoria and for an industrial warehouse in Johannesburg.

The proposed acquisitions would “add critical mass to Rebosis’s property portfolio and further diversify the company’s income streams”‚ it said.

CE Sisa Ngebulana said last month that Rebosis was focusing on its strategy of aggressively growing its portfolio‚ and it intended to grow the fund to R10bn in the next five years‚ from the year-end value of R4.54bn.

The purchase consideration for the Sunnypark Shopping Centre‚ from Centre of the Sun Properties‚ was R572.9 million‚ while the purchase price for the industrial warehouse was R120 million - from Stonibut Trading and Invest 13.

Rebosis’ portfolio currently consists of three shopping centres and nine office building properties‚ which are mainly let to government tenants.

The acquisition of the Sunnypark Shopping Centre was “consistent with Rebosis’ strategy of acquiring large high-quality and dominant retail properties yielding secure capital and income returns‚” the fund said.

The property is a multi-tenanted shopping centre occupied by defensive anchor tenants including Shoprite Checkers‚ Woolworths‚ The Foschini Group‚ the Truworths Group‚ Clicks‚ Spur and Virgin Active.

Sunnypark has 24‚318 square metres of retail space‚ including space for the Virgin Active gym and 3‚179 square metres of office space.

“This quality property is located in a well-established residential and growing office node‚ dominating retail around the eastside of the Pretoria CBD.

“The Sunnypark acquisition will add critical mass to Rebosis’s property portfolio and further diversify the company’s retail income streams‚” Rebosis said.

Sunnypark is part of a sectional title scheme‚ which includes a hotel and residential apartments - although these do not form part of the Sunnypark acquisition.

The acquisition is subject to conditions including unconditional approval from the competition authorities.

The industrial warehouse acquisition for R120 million was consistent with the fund’s strategy of “acquiring large high-quality and defensive commercial properties yielding secure capital and income returns”.

The property‚ occupied by Antalis SA‚ is a specialised single tenanted industrial warehouse with a gross lettable area of 18‚729 square metres.

Antalis SA is a leading distributor of graphic equipment and paper communications support material‚ and the property has a net rental of R51.66 per square metre.

It is located in a light industrial node in Selby‚ Johannesburg “with great connectivity to key highways and provides additional bulk for future tenant driven expansions”‚ Rebosis said.