Property group Attfund moots listing

Johannesburg - The property sector is looking forward to the listing of retail-focused Attfund as the economy recovers and shoppers slowly head back into malls.

The property group is one of the country's largest unlisted property funds. Its portfolio includes shopping centres like Clearwater Mall in Johannesburg, Centurion Mall in Pretoria and the Garden Route Mall in George.

The R8.5bn group is also exposed to an offshore portfolio. It owns 22.5% of Stenham European Shopping Centre Fund, which owns the Nova Eventis in Leipzig, Germany - one of Europe's large shopping malls. However, CEO Louis Norval said Attfund will strip out its foreign assets for the listing.

"There are still no concrete plans, but according to our commitment it has to happen before the end of 2011," said Norval.

"In an ideal world, asset wise, it would be great to combine Atffund and Hyprop in one specialised portfolio."

Speculation that the group will list before the end of 2010 comes as diversified property group Redefine eyes Hyprop, one of the few specialised retail property funds on the JSE, for takeover.

"There is more space for them in the specialist retail market," said Coronation Fund Managers analyst Anton de Goede. "There is definitely investor appetite for it."

Consumer confidence is on the up, having risen to levels not seen in two years, a study released by TNS Research Surveys last week showed.

At the South African Property Owners Association (Sapoa) conference last week, JHI CEO Marna van der Walt said retail sales will pick up in the next 18 months and she will be backing shopping malls again.

Attfund's management is well known to property players. Directors include Louis van der Watt (CEO of Atterbury Property), Neno Haasbroek, Francois van Niekerk, Frank Berkeley (head of property finance at Nedbank Corporate) and Sisa Ngebulana (chairperson of developer Billion Group).

"These are well-respected operators; everyone knows what they do, which is why people are looking forward to the listing," said De Goede.

According to analysts, large regional shopping malls are the first prize for any property portfolio, in good times and bad. In a recession the large food chain tenants like Pick n Pay and Checkers continue to draw shoppers, and when the economy is growing, consumer spend is the driving factor.