Standard Bank signs $80m debt facility with Durban’s Shree Property Holdings

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Commenting on the funding deal, Standard Bank's Head of Real Estate Finance Wholesale, Vanessa Murray says this is a key win for the bank in KwaZulu-Natal and the Durban property market. Commenting on the funding deal, Standard Bank's Head of Real Estate Finance Wholesale, Vanessa Murray says this is a key win for the bank in KwaZulu-Natal and the Durban property market.

Standard Bank Group, Africa’s biggest lender by assets and earnings, has signed a debt facility of R1 billion (approx. USD80 million) with Durban based company, Shree Property Holdings, to enable the company to refinance existing loan facilities and acquire new properties to add to its industrial property portfolio in KwaZulu-Natal.

Shree Property Holdings, whose founder and owner is Pran Shree, has been banked by Standard Bank for over 25 years. The organisation has strategically refinanced its operations for additional development and acquisitions.

The Shree Property Holdings portfolio comprises of more than 30 properties located in three key industrial nodes within Durban’s South Industrial Basin, Riverhorse Valley and the Dube Trade Port regions.

“This is a key win for Standard Bank in the KwaZulu-Natal and Durban market and is testament to our long-standing relationship with Shree Property Holdings,” said Vanessa Murray, Head of Real Estate Finance Wholesale at Standard Bank.

“This is a client that we have grown with for over a quarter century, and assisted in growing his business from an initial cold-storage and distribution operation, with a key presence in the fruit industry, into a multi-billion rand property and development business,” Murray says.

Standard Bank’s stated objective is to partner with clients who have outstanding business acumen in their respective fields, and who have developed strong property portfolios with good quality tenants located in strategic regional and national nodes.

The bank’s partnership with Shree Property Holdings will see it realign its banking offering to enable the developer to grow locally, as well as into Africa and internationally. 

Shree Property Holdings has been successful in securing only blue-chip tenants, with the likes of Samsung, DHL, Unilever and Tongaat-Hulett to name a few. This international profile of tenants is now growing across borders with great interest, and Shree Property Holdings being able to provide world-class warehousing solutions. 

“The evolution of our partnership with Standard Bank will enable us to take our business to the next level and further enhance our footprint both locally and abroad,” said Pran Shree, Chief Executive Officer of Shree Property Holdings.

“We have already acquired land in Mauritius, USA, India, and the UK, and we are looking to leverage these properties into future growth opportunities,” Mr Shree said.

With the commencement of Shree Property Holdings’ internationalisation strategy into the SADC regions, the company begins with construction in the third quarter of 2015 at the Mauritius Airport. This will be its springboard onto the global platform. Together, Standard Bank Group and Shree Property Holdings would be able to drive business activity and investment opportunities to and from Durban.

As of 31 December 2014, Standard Bank Group had total assets of R1 907 billion (about USD 165 billion), while its market capitalisation was R232,2 billion (about USD20 billion).



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