Western Europe-focused MAS Real Estate will list on Thursday on the JSE as it looks to become a more liquid rand hedge counter for South African investors.
MAS‚ which pays out dividends in euro‚ has been listed on the JSE’s Alternative Exchange‚ but has been seeking a large pool of investors.
“In particular‚ the increased visibility should improve the liquidity of the traded share and further strengthen the positive standing MAS enjoys among investors‚” CEO Lukas Nakos said.
MAS was established in 2009 as an initiative of large South African property investors who were keen to diversify their holdings into overseas markets.
Its main shareholder is JSE-listed Attacq‚ while the Mertech group and Sanlam maintain substantial holdings.
Mr Nakos said by the end of the year MAS would have trebled the size of its portfolio of commercial and industrial properties in the UK‚ Switzerland and Germany from the equivalent of R900m to just less than R3bn.
On Wednesday‚ the group also announced the acquisition of an industrial warehouse and office park situated close to the town centre of Chippenham‚ in England‚ for a purchase price of EUR40.25m.
Mr Nakos said that by the end of 2016‚ the company aimed to have 90% of its portfolio in income-producing assets and the balance invested in development and value-add opportunities.
Financial director Malcolm Levy said MAS was seeking out opportunities in Spain and Portugal.
Germany‚ however‚ was probably the most attractive market — largely attributable to the ability to fix the cost of debt there for years.
“We believe there are good properties in these economies. Germany has been the focus. In the right pockets in Germany‚ you can find properties that offer yields between 7% and 8% with long leases to blue-chip clients‚” Mr Levy said.