Property company Sirius Real Estate on Friday listed on the JSE’s AltX, becoming the first company to list through the exchange’s new fast-track listing process.

The JSE fast-track listing process, which came into effect at the end of September, enabled companies already listed on the ASX, the LSE, the NYSE and NYSE Euronext or the TSX to list on the JSE quicker and easier.

Sirius director James Peggie explained that, as Sirius was already listed on the Aim, it was able to use the fast-track process to list on the AltX.

“The fast-track process involves drafting a business plan, presenting it to the AltX advisory committee and seeking approval from the JSE, and then producing a prelisting statement,” he said, stating that the entire process from “start to finish” only took about four to five weeks.

This compared favourably with pursuing a primary listing on the JSE, which would have taken several months and cost more.

“But to do the dual listing was cheap, quick and very efficient,” he said.

Peggie noted that it made sense for Sirius to list on the AltX, as about 38% of its shareholders were already South African or connected to South Africa.

He noted that Sirius had also, last month, raised €40-million from South African investors by a private placement of 105.26-million new ordinary shares at a price of 38c a share to fund, in part, the proposed acquisition of five mixed-use business parks, with an all-in cost of €76-million.

He added that this placement had been oversubscribed by about 50%, which showed the significant interest from the South African market.

He believed the company to be an interesting opportunity for investors, as Sirius was German-focused, with a euro-denominated stock and a forecast dividend yield of more than 5%.

“So there is an element of a rand hedge in why people would like to invest in Sirius and Germany is a strong economy. [Further], even at 38c – the price we listed at – it is still a 20% discount to the net asset value so we expect shares to trade up to that level, giving investors a significant uplift, hopefully in the short term,” he told Engineering News Online.

Further, through the listing, Sirius was trying to drive liquidity and greater tradability.