S Africa’s first self-storage Reit to list on the JSE

12th October 2015 By: Anine Kilian - Contributing Editor Online

S Africa’s first self-storage Reit to list on the JSE

South Africa’s largest self-storage real estate investment trust (Reit), Stor-Age Property, will list on the JSE in November.

It would be the first Reit of its kind to list on the local bourse.

The decade-old group would list an initial R1.3-billion portfolio of self-storage properties and was forecasting above-average distribution growth in the medium term. 

The Reit was following in the footsteps of international self-storage peers, which had consistently outperformed the listed property sectors of the US, UK and Australia in recent years.  

Stor-Age would hold 30% of the company post listing.

Stor-Age was aiming to raise around R700-million from institutional investors and was targeting a market capitalisation of around R1.2-billion on listing.

The price per share would be finalised post the institutional bookbuild.
 
“The majority of our listing portfolio assets are considered ‘mature’, meaning over 80% tenancy. This stabilises our portfolio, minimises investor risk and provides visibility of earnings, said Stor-Age CEO Gavin Lucas.

He added that the group wanted to unlock organic growth through rental escalations, increasing occupancy, improving the unit mix and expanding existing properties.

Stor-Age would further look to expand its national footprint either through third-party acquisitions or the R1-billion pipeline over which the group had a pre-emptive right of acquisition.