Grit Real Estate, the pan-African property company, is building a strong case to warrant a listing on the main board of the London Stock Exchange (LSE), according to CEO Bronwyn Corbett.
Grit on Friday announced the appointment of an independent nonexecutive chairman — which was in line with LSE listing rules — and said that it was expanding its portfolio in Mozambique and Ghana.
Grit is the only JSE-listed company that invests solely in real estate in the rest of Africa.
It wants to become a player in global real estate and compete for institutional money in the UK. Corbett says that through listing in London, Grit will be able to offer offshore investors dividend yields not offered by European property funds.
Grit’s lead independent director, Peter Todd, would replace Sandile Nomvete as nonexecutive chairman.
Nomvete resigned as a result of his responsibilities and position as an executive director of Delta Property Fund. Delta owns about 11% of Grit, meaning Nomvete was not considered an independent director.
Ghana is an investment destination for Grit and the firm plans to spend $200m on assets in the West African country.
Grit announced on Friday that it would acquire 47.5% of the issued shares in the company that owns an office complex called Capital Place for an amount of $8.5m.
Capital Place is valued at $25.5m and is located in an up-market region in Accra.
The acquisition amount would be settled through the issue of 5,567,564 new Grit shares at a value of $1.5267 per share. There are various sellers in the deal, one of which is prominent businessman Sir Samuel Jonah.
Grit also agreed to acquire an 80.1% interest in Acacia Estate, a residential asset in Maputo, for $23.45m. The estate is leased to an embassy and an oil firm.
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