ATTACQ: Going the Reit route could help
Diversifying offshore continues to be a major theme among SA property companies, but timing has proved vital
Attacq, which owns the Waterfall development precinct, anchored by the 131,000m² Mall of Africa near Midrand, last week reported foreign exchange and impairment losses of R280m on its European and African interests. In addition, Attacq took a R183m knock on the sale of its stake in German shopping centre Nova Eventis. A stronger rand also wiped out most of the gains made by the sale of Attacq’s investments in Serbia and Cyprus. Around 15% of Attacq’s R27.2bn portfolio is made up of offshore property interests, including a R2.7bn stake in JSE-listed MAS Real Estate and a R1.2bn portfolio of seven malls in African cities including Accra (Ghana), Lagos (Nigeria), Lusaka (Zambia) and Windhoek (Namibia). Speaking at the company’s results presentation last week, Attacq CEO Morné Wilken said it operated in a challenging environment, which has prompted management to take a hard look at its strategy and simplify its business model. The latter will include the conversion to a real estate inve...
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