Star 2021-10-14

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za EQUITES Property Fund and Eskom Pension and Provident Fund (EPPF) have formed a joint venture to acquire a R2.05 billion DSV distribution centre in Gauteng, the first of what the partners believe will become a world-class logistics property portfolio. Equities said yesterday it would hold 51 percent of the shares in the joint venture company and EPPF would hold the remaining 49 percent. Equites’ total equity contribution to the joint venture would be R732 million, which it would fund from its own cash and debt facilities. The deal would increase the company’s loan-to-value ratio by 3.1 percent to 31.7 percent. The joint venture company will acquire the 38-hectare DSV Campus in Gauteng for R2.05bn, on the basis that the property will…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za THE INDEPENDENT Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) yesterday confirmed plans to oppose Telkom’s legal bid to prevent the expiry of the temporary Covid-19 spectrum allocation. Icasa allocated the temporary spectrum licences at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic last year to help maintain good quality broadband services as people began working from home. Icasa said it believed that the circumstances and considerations that informed the issuing of the radio frequency spectrum at the onset of the pandemic never contemplated that the spectrum would be licensed on a long-term or semi-permanent basis. “The authority will, therefore, be derelict in its duty if it were, by default, to perpetuate what is now becoming an anti-competitive, unfair, and unjust spectrum licensing regime under the guise of pandemic relief,” the…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za FAMOUS Brands, the branded food services franchisor, said yesterday headline earnings per share (Heps) for the six months to August 31, 2021, were expected to increase between 329 cents and 349c when compared to the prior comparable period, after its operations started recovering from the impact of the pandemic across all its businesses. This would translate in Heps of between 89 to 109c, compared with the equivalent of a 240c per share loss reported at the end of the comparable period last year. “Across our trading markets, in South Africa, rest of Africa and the Middle East and the UK, the negative financial impact of the pandemic and resultant lockdowns and trading restrictions as well as the civil unrest in SA have materially impacted the group’s…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za THE DEPARTMENT of Trade, Industry and Competition has, so far, contributed R2.5 billion towards the development of the Tshwane Automotive Special Economic Zone (TASEZ), and 70 percent of the construction was complete Trade, Industry and Competition Deputy Minister Fikile Majola said yesterday. The money helped to unlock a R16bn investment by Ford Motor Company and a further R4.3bn from automotive components suppliers, which would occupy facilities within the 162.6 hectare SEZ, he said in a statement. SEZs are geographically designated areas that hold incentives to attract certain business sectors. Majola described as “unprecedented in South Africa”, the speed with which the TASEZ was being built. “We are informed by Ford that up to 6 000 jobs have been created. This is great news,”…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za LONDON-listed Grit Real Estate Income Group, which has about 60 percent of its shareholders in South Africa, said yesterday that it had issued a bond to raise up to $31.5 million (R472.3m) to acquire, expand and redevelop the Orbit Africa warehousing and manufacturing facility in Nairobi, Kenya, on a sale and leaseback basis. Grit is a pan-African real estate company that invests in and manages a portfolio of assets in carefully selected African countries. The bond was raised from Ethos Mezzanine Partners and BluePeak Private Capital. The total purchase consideration of $53.6m would be settled by way of $25m in senior debt finance negotiated with the International Finance Corporation and $28.6m through the perpetual note issuance, Grit said in a statement yesterday. Grit planned to…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za RETAIL trade sales surprised on the downside in August due to lingering effects of the July unrest, pointing to the unevenness of the recovery in the South African economy in the third quarter. Data from Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) yesterday showed that retail trade shrank 1.3 percent from a year earlier in August, dragged lower mainly by general dealers and retailers specialising in hardware, paint and glass. This followed an upwardly revised 1.2 percent fall in July, and defied market estimates of a 2.6 percent rise in August. This was also the second consecutive decline in retail activity since March, partly due to the lingering effects of recent violent events across the country and the protracted lockdown restrictions. Nedbank senior economist Nicky Weimar said…