Star 2022-12-21

NEPI Rockcastle, JSE-listed owner of retail centres in central and eastern Europe, said yesterday it has acquired Forum Gdansk Shopping Centre in Poland from Multi Veste 339, owned by Blackstone managed funds, for €250 million (R4.61 billion). The deal is one of the biggest single asset shopping centre transactions in Europe by value in 2022, a statement said. Forum Gdansk is a 63 500m² gross lettable area shopping centre in Gdansk, the sixth largest city in Poland by population, with over 470 000 inhabitants. Gdansk, together with the cities of Gdynia and Sopot, comprise the ‘Tricity region’, which is considered to be one of Poland’s largest, wealthiest and fastest growing urban agglomerations. NEPI Rockcastle CEO Rüdiger Dany said in a statement the transaction was accretive to distributable earnings and was…

SOUTH African markets fell to a near one-month low yesterday, following their emerging counterparts after the World Bank slashed its growth outlook for China, the world’s second largest economy. The World Bank yesterday said the growth outlook in China, South Africa’s largest trading partner, was subject to significant risks emerging from nearly three years of “zero-Covid” curbs and a real estate slump. In its latest forecast yesterday, the World Bank cut China’s expected growth for 2022 to 2.7%, down from 4.3% previously forecast in June. World Bank country director for China, Mongolia and Korea, Mara Warwick, said China’s growth outlook was subject to significant risks stemming from the uncertain trajectory of the pandemic, of how policies evolve in response to the Covid-19 situation, and the behavioural responses of households and…

INVESTORS have remained bullish about the potential returns on their investments in the South African economy over the next five years, even amid a climate of global economic uncertainty. However, government bonds and cash have shrunk to become less attractive to investors over the past six months, due to their vulnerability to increasing interest rates. The Schroders Global Investor Study (GIS) 2022 released yesterday, showed that South African investors expect to realise higher returns over the next five years compared to what was achieved in the preceding years. The study, conducted online between February and April, this year surveyed a total of 23 950 investors from 33 locations globally, spanning countries across Europe, Asia, the Americas and more. Schroders research defines people as those who will be investing at least…

THE DEVELOPMENT Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) has been granted a R2.2 billion loan by the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) to expand its portfolio with strategic projects. AfDB’s board of directors yesterday announced that it had approved the line of credit facility five days ago to the DBSA for energy, infrastructure, and communications technology projects within the Southern Africa region and across the African continent. The facility will provide long-term funding to the DBSA, augmenting internally generated funds as well as loans from other development finance institutions (DFI) and commercial lenders. The DBSA is seeking to raise $1bn (R17.3bn) in funds over the next three years. As it seeks to expand its portfolio, it will focus on clean and renewable energy, infrastructure, ICT, social and women-owned projects in SADC.…

THE MINING sector was confronted with an extremely volatile 2022, with three core challenges: Russia invading Ukraine, Eskom’s load shedding and Transnet woes, both port and rail. Business Report spoke to economists and mining industry players to find out how they fared this year, and what 2023 might hold. According to Anchor Capital investment analyst Seleho Tsatsi, when Russia invaded Ukraine, commodity prices soared as the market feared supply shortages, given Russia’s importance as a supplier for many of these metals. He said those fears subsequently eased, and some prices started to revert to pre-invasion levels. “The anticipated easing of zero-Covid policy in China in the fourth quarter has since led to another run in commodity prices,” Tsatsi said. In the first half of 2022, commodities, such as gold and…

FOOD prices are likely to remain volatile in South Africa at least during the first quarter of next year, says Thabile Nkunjana, an agricultural economist for Agro-Food Chains in the Markets and Economic Research Division of the National Agricultural Marketing Council. South African consumers, this year, have been faced with high food prices and the escalating cost of living, leaving them squeezed at the shopping tills and looking for bargains. He said in an interview that in November, consumer inflation in South Africa decreased to 7.4% but remained extremely high at 12.8% for food, 8.3% for electricity, and 25.3% for fuel. “Fortunately, if it materialises, the cost of petrol should decrease noticeably at the start of 2023, which will assist to reduce the pressure caused by rising living expenses for…