Martprop on acquisition trail, buys Fourways centre

LISTED property unit trust Martprop Property Fund said yesterday it had acquired a Johannesburg value retail centre for R104m at an initial yield of 9,1%.

The 10800m² property, called the Forest Road Design and Decor Centre, in Pineslopes, Fourways, has no vacancies and was acquired from Private Preview Investments.

Martprop MD Roger Perkin said the rentals at the centre were “very much at market level or even slightly below”, and that Martprop believed there was “rental upside in the future”.

“It is very well located in the Fourways-Pineslopes area in close proximity to fairly dense cluster-like residential developments,” said Perkin.

He said the transaction would increase Martprop’s portfolio to about R2,8bn from R2,7bn.

The transaction follows Martprop’s acquisition of an industrial property in Pretoria in September for R65,5m. Given the robust performance of the retail property in recent years, Perkin said he was confident the centre would continue to perform strongly as it offered the products and services the home owner was looking for.

Martprop would be funding the acquisition through the issue of units. Perkin said Martprop was in an acquisitive mode.

“We are growing the portfolio across all the property sectors but we are being careful not to overpay for retail property in the current expensive market. Retail property is right at the top of the cycle and you have to make sure you’re not buying an over-rented property at a very tight yield.”

Martprop’s name change to SA Corporate Real Estate Fund was expected to go ahead by the middle of next month. “All the approvals are in place but we need confirmation from the registrar (of companies),” said Perkin.

Once this was received a circular detailing the name change would be sent to unitholders.

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