NEF invests R23.3m in new Willowvale shopping centre
A new R23.3-million shopping centre in rural Willowvale, in the Eastern Cape, was officially opened on Wednesday, with trading scheduled to start on Thursday.
The 3 000 m2 shopping centre’s anchor store was a Pick n Pay Boxer Superstore. Other tenants included Jumbo, Chippies, Boxer Super Liquors and a clothing store.
The National Empowerment Fund (NEF) provided the funding for the project on which construction started in December 2012. Construction on the shopping centre was completed in September this year.
The loan horizon of the funding provided by the NEF was ten years.
The Willowvale shopping centre is 100% black-owned and 51% black-women-owned, with 55% of the business held by Mdyesha General Trading, 30% by the Willowvale Community Trust and 15% by the NEF.
Mdyesha General Trading contributed land certifiably valued at R2.3-million to the transaction and had spent a significant amount to help develop the project.
As the majority equity provider, the NEF’s 15% equity reduced the businesses’ leverage and enabled it to start operation with a lower debt burden. Once the business reached maturity, the existing shareholders would have the first right of refusal for the NEF’s stake.
The shopping centre had created 115 permanent jobs, while at least 80 temporary jobs were created during the construction phase, NEF venture capital and corporate finance divisional executive Hlengiwe Makhathini pointed out.
Mdyesha General Trading executive director Sibongile Mdyesha added that the centre represented a fundamental turnaround for the Willowvale community, which previously had to travel significant distances to the nearest stores.
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