Atterbury CEO Louis van der Watt and entrepreneur Tebogo Mogashoa
Property development and investment company Atterbury has concluded a significant broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE) transaction that secures 30% black ownership of Atterbury Property Fund (APF), the company announced on Thursday.
APF is now 30% owned by Talis Investment Partners (TIP) and 70% owned by Atterbury Property Investments (API), a subsidiary of Atterbury Property Holdings.
TIP is 100% black-owned and led by entrepreneur Tebogo Mogashoa, chairperson of Talis Holdings. Its investors include Talis, a black-owned women’s group, the Atterbury Property Foundation NPC and Ascension Capital Holdings, a black-owned private equity fund.
APF houses all Atterbury’s South African investment assets with a gross value of R4.1-billion and a development pipeline estimated in excess of R6-billion.
APF also has a 28% stake in the newly launched Divercity Urban Property Fund, an investment fund that is focused on urban renewal with a unique emphasis on inner city mixed-use precinct development.
Divercity’s gross assets include a development pipeline of R1.5-billion and total R2.4-billion.
The transaction is also unique in that future funding enabling Talis to co-invest in the roll-out of the significant APF development pipeline has been secured.
“Atterbury has a 24-year record, starting in 1994. We have intended to do a meaningful BBBEE deal for some time now and have been looking for a partner that shares our common values. We found that and more in Talis’s Tebogo Mogashoa,” said Atterbury CEO and co-founder Louis van der Watt.
Besides 30% black ownership, APF has also secured an experienced board comprising a majority of black directors, 40% of whom are black female directors.
The APF board includes Mogashoa as its chairperson, Van der Watt, Sigma Capital executive chairperson Phuti Mahanyele, APF CFO Seilatsatsi Tshabalala and RMH Properties CEO Brian Roberts.
Atterbury is also working with Talis as its joint asset manager and is driving transformation through its procurement, with enterprise and supplier development being key focus areas.