Tradehold targets major stake in Zambia property developer

OUTH African retail magnate Christo Wiese’s offshore investment holding company Tradehold intends to buy a majority stake in Lusaka Stock Exchangelisted Real Estate Investments Zambia (Reiz).

Tradehold said yesterday its subsidiary Tradehold Africa, in partnership with African Property Investments Limited (Apil), was offering 4.20 Zambian kwacha (about 1c) per Reiz share, conditional on the acceptance level reaching at least 51% of Reiz’s shares in issue.

Reiz develops commercial, industrial and retail property, and owns more than 50,000m² of prime property in Lusaka.

Apil is an experienced property development and management company whose properties in Zambia include Mukuba Mall in Ndola, Cosmopolitan Mall in Lusaka and Solwezi City Mall in Solwezi.

Tradehold already owns properties in other parts of Africa — including Namibia— and the UK, and this is its first excursion into Zambia.

It has said it wants to list its Namibian assets separately in the near future.

Tradehold owns a mix of UKbased properties held under Moorgarth, African retail development properties, UK-based secured lending operation Reward and specialised financial services company Mettle.

Tradehold has not yet disclosed how it would fund the stake it acquired in Reiz, should it be successful in doing so.

Reiz’s tenants include Barclays, BDO Zambia, Blue Financial Services, Deloitte & Touche, Ericsson, First National Bank, Spar Zambia and the Lusaka Stock Exchange.

Tradehold’s recent performance has been boosted by its UK assets, with a strong UK consumer boosting the performance of its shopping centres.

Tradehold fell 3.4% to R28.99 on the JSE yesterday.

andersona@bdlive.co.za

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