Government's PIC has assigned a group of bright young things to manage billions of rands of listed, direct real estate in pension fund assets.
Would you hand R500m worth of real estate to a 25-year-old graduate whose family has never owned property and say something along the lines of: "Go for it. Do your best to produce solid returns."
Wayne van der Vent, head of the Public Investment Corporation's (PIC) property investments, has done just that with a whole crop of fresh-faced professionals - over and over in recent years.
And the team of 20 to 30 bright young things aren't disappointing Van der Vent, who in his early 40s is the oldest in the group by a long shot.
The returns Van der Vent's staff, split between Pretoria and Cape Town, is delivering on a R21bn portfolio of assets are outshining some of the industry's best.
Comparing last year's 27,9% return to the SAPOA Investment Property Databank figures for 2008 (27,1% - general; 27,6% retail), Van der Vent notes that the strategy of nurturing young talent largely from previously disadvantaged backgrounds is paying off for investors.
The PIC is the investment organisation that manages many billions of rands of government and other pension fund money. With a fat cheque book, it also has the potential to wield enormous power in the real estate sector.
Over the last year or so, the PIC has built up sizeable stakes in listed property companies like Growthpoint. It has also shaken up the listed sector to an extent, for example by delisting office property-oriented CBS, and integrating its 80 employees with the PIC.
The PIC has also been competing with private players for assets as it grows its direct property portfolio across the commercial real estate spectrum.
Some in the property industry tremble when the PIC's property asset managers arrive for a meeting. More often than not, though, the seasoned, established players fail to hide their disbelief at the youth and relative inexperience of the representative sitting on the other side of the boardroom table.
Says Gary Goliath, head of the asset management team in Cape Town, and still a few years off hitting the big "O" (30 is "old" in his office): "Sometimes it's difficult to get people to take us seriously. They always want to see Wayne, but Wayne has given us decision-making authority."
Besides, says finance head 28-year-old Camilla Arthur, Van der Vent's always more involved in decisions than meets the eye.
"I sit in the office behind a desk like everyone else. We don't have weekly training sessions. If you have a question, you ask it," confirms Van der Vent of a relaxed skills' development system that he has implemented.
There aren't any formal training sessions. Van der Vent confesses to doing a fair bit of eavesdropping and is quick to pick up on areas where there may be room for confusion.
It sounds casual, and Van der Vent's regular wise cracks may lead some to believe that it's all jokes and fun in the PIC's property engine room. But there's also much rigorous attention to detail when it comes to the nitty-gritty of property asset management and management of the buildings.
Although the real estate asset management world, like so much else in the investment arena, is mired in jargon, corporate babble and legal documentation, Van der Vent is adamant that managing property assets is not an exclusive domain.
"Property is not rocket science, despite what the guys may tell you," he says.
However, you need to have your wits about you, ask the right questions and generally keep things simple, is his view.
Van der Vent has always had an affinity for investments with a broader social objective, and made his mark in the asset management industry with rural shopping centre development at Futuregrowth Asset Management when others turned their backs on these opportunities.
So, it's not surprising that ethics remain high on his agenda. Or that he expects the bigger social picture as well as personal ethics to remain important for his team. What's more, Van der Vent expects his asset managers to follow his example.
"I think I'm one of the last guys you can do a deal with on a handshake," says Van der Vent of his approach to business. He notes that several deals with the PIC have "come apart because people come up with all sorts of funnies in the documentation".
"We play fair and our word is our bond," says Van der Vent.
Unlike many hard-nosed business players for whom profits are everything, Van der Vent can't help getting emotional at times about his tenants.
If someone hits on hard times, they aren't necessarily evicted. Instead, more flexible rental packages are explored. "For example, instead of us fighting every few months, we will get a tenant to pay more in good months and pay less in bad months," explains Van der Vent.
At times, Van der Vent even gets angry - and everyone around him knows it.
Like the time he arrived at a rural shopping centre and the toilets were filthy. "They thought just because the centre was for black shoppers, cleanliness wasn't an issue," he reflects. Before Van der Vent's accompanying young guns could blink, they found themselves literally cleaning the public toilet along with Van der Vent - a lesson that left an indelible mark on them that the boss likes to see all stakeholders treated with respect.
Although Van der Vent emphasises the importance of delivering returns for investors, it is not about making money at any cost. Instead, it's about "doing well by doing good", he says.
And for him, that is also what raising this new group of property professionals is all about. "These are first-generation property people. We have pretty much created the opportunity for people to get into the property space who wouldn't ordinarily have been able to get in to the industry," says Van der Vent.
As with the rest of the property industry, asset management and property management is characterised by networks of families and old business ties and has generally lagged employment equity targets.
"There aren't enough black people in property. There are black faces on boards here and there, but we are not necessarily seeing black practitioners," says Van der Vent.
Which is why the PIC, which places a strong emphasis on black economic empowerment, came to the conclusion it needed to nurture its own talent. "This is not driven by points for the property charter. It is driven by the need to make a difference," says Van der Vent.
Few would expect anything less from a person who has made it his business, throughout his career, to place the social imperative alongside the profit objectives.
