Attacq, which owns Mall of Africa, said on Monday it is making progress in reducing its debt and that trading conditions have improved across its retail portfolio.
Debt reduction has been a priority for the company since the start of Covid-19, which threw a curveball at the property industry, including tenants who battled to pay rent.
Attacq has previously it would dispose of R2bn worth of assets to address its debt and that it was in talks with funders about refinancing R6.8bn of debt.
The group’s gross interest bearing debt stood at about R11.5bn in the six months to end-December, while the value of its portfolio stood at R20bn.
The property group said it has settled €35.8m of its euro-denominated debt out of proceeds from the disposal of some of its shares in MAS Real Estate, the property investment company with interests in Central and Eastern Europe.
Attacq is also extending the July 2022 maturity date of the remaining euro-denominated debt, which amounts to €20m.
It has started refinancing its syndicated loan of R3.3bn secured by the portfolios of its subsidiaries, Attacq Retail Fund Proprietary and Lynnwood Bridge Office Park Proprietary. About R2.9bn of this debt matures in the 2022 calendar year.
The trends in the retail portfolio’s monthly trading densities in the first quarter 2021 were encouraging, the company said.
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