Publications
Partners
Pretoria - Roux Shabangu’s Sanlam Middestad building should have fetched much more than the R66m it was sold for on Wednesday, an auctioneer said.
High court sheriff Thaka Seboka, who auctioned the building, said he had looked forward to "much higher figures" before the auction started in Centurion.
"It is a landmark business building in Pretoria central, one of the iconic ones. The deal included five properties [one building] which had to be sold to one buyer," he said.
"I was expecting something in the region of R150m to R200m, not this R66m. It’s gone for a song. Whoever is going to get this building, if Nedbank decides to sell in the future, would have made a worthy investment."
Nedbank bought the building for R66m at a well-attended auction at the sheriff’s Centurion offices. Bidding started at R65m. Martin Phillip, head of the bank's corporate properties division, submitted the winning bid.
In a brief speech Phillip said Nedbank had mandated him to purchase the property. All inquiries regarding the transaction would be handled by the bank's Johannesburg head office.
According to media reports, Shabangu, 39, had failed to keep up payments on the R320m bond Nedbank granted him in January 2011.
Shabangu put the value of the building at R850m. He bought it for R220m and registered it in his company's name, Roux Property Fund, in January 2011.
The businessman entered into a 10-year lease with the public works department on the police's behalf in May 2010.
Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found that former police commissioner Bheki Cele had unlawfully entered into negotiations for the lease for the building, and for another building in Durban, with Roux Property Fund.
President Jacob Zuma fired Cele from his post in June 2012.
At the time of the auction on Wednesday, the 18-floor building had outstanding arrears of close to R16m. The office tower is currently unoccupied and renovations to the building have ceased.
