LISTED PROPERTY
Weak laws ‘hinder investment in Africa’
Lack of legal structures and reliable regulations are making investments in Africa a more difficult sell than European ones, say property players
South African listed property players are still concerned about a lack of legal structures and reliable regulations in other African countries, saying it is making investments on the continent a more difficult sell than European ones. Speaking on a panel at the South African Property Owners Association’s annual conference in Cape Town, Fortress Income Fund CEO Mark Stevens said it was still a high risk to invest institutional capital in the likes of Nigeria because property laws and regulatory frameworks were not strong enough yet. Fortress has invested in western Europe through its stake in Hammerson and in central and eastern Europe through New Europe Property Investments (Nepi) and Rockcastle Global Real Estate that own assets in countries including Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic. Nepi and Rockcastle are on track to merge into the largest property fund on the JSE with a market capitalisation of more than R80bn. "Nigeria is on ice in our portfolio for the time being. We ar...
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