Germany property player lists on AltX of JSE

Seen at the Sirius Real Estate Limited JSE listing event: Donna Oosthuyse, Director at JSE, Andrew Coombs, CEO, Sirius Real Estate Limited and James Peggie, Director, Sirius Real Estate Limited

London AIM-listed, Sirius Real Estate Limited whose portfolio valued at R6.4 billion based in Germany, today debuted a secondary listing on the Alternative Exchange (AltX) of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).

Local investors, who earned far better returns from offshore-focused property stocks than local ones, now have another opportunity to diversify their real estate portfolios with the first pure German property offering which has a portfolio of 30 mixed-use property assets.

Sirius, which provides conventional and flexible workspace to the German market, raised 40 million euros by a private placement of 105,263,158 new ordinary shares at a price of 38 cents per ordinary share.

The first trade opened at R6.00, giving Sirius a market cap of approximately R3.8 billion on the local bourse.

“South African investors already owned approximately 40% of Sirius prior to listing. A secondary listing on AltX was a natural progression as it provides local investors an additional platform to invest and trade in our shares. We are delighted with the overwhelming support for the Private Placement,” Andrew Coombs, Chief Executive Officer said.

The event also signalled the JSE’s first fast-tracked listing, in terms of new rules instituted by the exchange.

Sirius is also the first company to make use of the JSE’s new fast track process for companies to seek a secondary listing on the JSE.

The process was introduced to make it easier for companies already listed on one of four specified stock exchanges to access the South African capital markets at a lower cost.

“The capital raised will support the proposed acquisition of an exciting new selection of German business parks for a total acquisition cost of €75.6 million,” commented Alistair Marks, Chief Financial Officer.
 
Proceeds from the Private Placement, together with a new debt facility, will be used to fund the acquisition of five business parks with a total lettable area of 111 476 m².

The Company’s top 50 tenants account for 61% of revenue, and include covenanted blue chip companies such as Daimler, MAN Diesel, Siemens, GKN Aerospace Deutschland. 30% of the portfolio’s income is derived from German SMEs.

The JSE also anticipates the listing of local players in December, Pivotal Property Fund and Acsion Limited.

Rand hedge stocks such as Capital & Counties Properties, Redefine International, MAS Real Estate, Romanian focused New Europe Property Investments, Rockcastle Global Real Estate and Intu Properties remain also as options for South African investors who may seek to be spoilt with offshore property exposure.