By Schalk Burger.
JSE-listed real estate investment trusts (REITs) Attacq and Hyprop, which each hold 50% shares in AttAfrica, will sell their interests to commercial real estate company Lango Real Estate.
AttAfrica owns shares in Accra Mall, in Mauritius; Kumasi City Mall and West Hills Mall, in Ghana; and in Gruppo, which owns shares in Ikeja City Mall, in Nigeria.
Hyprop said it had concluded a letter of intent for the sale of its entire sub-Saharan African portfolio and concluded the agreements with Lango Real Estate on August 7 to dispose of its interests in Ikeja City Mall, and in Accra Mall, Kumasi City Mall and West Hills Mall.
Attacq similarly concluded agreements with Lango Real Estate to dispose of Attacq’s interests in the malls.
For the disposal of the companies’ entire issued shares of Gruppo, in Nigeria, Hyprop and Attacq will receive an aggregate purchase price of $32-million, net of debt, with $7.9-million for Attacq Investment Holdings International (AIHI) Ikeja’s shares and $24-million for Hyprop Ikeja’s shares.
The Gruppo purchase price will be settled by the issue of class A shares in Lango Real Estate to the selling companies in their respective proportions, calculated at an issue price of $4.19 per Gruppo consideration share.
Further, for the AttAfrica disposal, Attacq and Hyprop will receive an aggregate purchase price of $27.3-million, net of debt, with $19.9-million for Hyprop Mauritius and $7.3-million for AIHI.
“These disposals are in line with Attacq’s stated strategy of exiting sub-Saharan African markets outside of South Africa and focusing on its South African assets. On implementation of the two disposals, Attacq and AIHI will be released from guarantees provided to the lenders to the AttAfrica Group and Gruppo,” Attacq said in a statement.
“Hyprop’s stated strategy is to focus on its South African and Eastern European portfolios, and exit sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa,” Hyprop said.
“The Gruppo disposal realises Hyprop’s intention to dispose of Ikeja. Similarly, the AttAfrica disposal is in line with Hyprop’s stated intention to dispose of its sub-Saharan Africa investments.
“On implementation of the two disposals, Hyprop and Hyprop Mauritius will be released from guarantees provided to the lenders to Gruppo and the AttAfrica group,” the company added.
Upon full implementation of the transaction, Attacq will own about 4.3% of Lango’s issued share capital. Attacq is not a long-term holder of the Gruppo Consideration Shares and AttAfrica Consideration Shares, the company said.
Meanwhile, the profits of Gruppo, Hyprop Ikeja and AttAfrica that are attributable to Hyprop, as reported in Hyprop’s unaudited interim results for the six months ended December 31, 2023, were, for the Gruppo disposal, a loss of R644-million, including the change/decrease in the fair value of investment property and foreign exchange losses, for the Hyprop Ikeja disposal, a profit of R14.5-million, excluding the change/decrease in the fair value of investment property and foreign exchange losses, and, in respect of AttAfrica, an equity accounted loss of R33.5-million.