Growth prospects, demographics underpin RMB Westport’s new funds investment in SSA
RMB Westport, a joint venture between the FirstRand group and Westport Property Group, says its decision or attraction to invest its $250m (about N2 billion) Real Estate Development Fund II in the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries of Nigeria, Ghana, Angola and the Ivory Coast is the strong long term growth prospects it has seen in those countries.
Other considerations, according to the company, are favourable demographics, and the pleasing trends of increasing urbanization and consumer spending which have all led to high demand for retail, industrial and commercial property space.
After a successful outing with the its first African real estate development fund, which closed in August 2012, the property development and investment group announced the first close of its second fund— RMB Westport Real Estate Development Fund II.
The proceeds of the fund, the company disclosed, would be used to invest in real estate developments in the sub-Saharan African countries, explaining that the developments would be built to meet the growing demand for high-grade retail, industrial and commercial property in those countries.
“ It is a credit to both the capital raising abilities of our joint venture partner, Ashburton Investments (FirstRand’s asset management business), as well as the mature, long-term view adopted by our investor base that we have been able to secure such a substantial amount of capital on the first close”, says Simon Fifield, RMB Westport CEO.
The new funds raised will be used to finance the business’s very strong pipeline. To date, Fund II has attracted eight investors comprising mostly international institutions, although increased interest from South African investors is evidenced by the notable rise in commitments from South Africa, relative to Fund I.
RMB Wesport already has footprints in the Nigerian real estate market as joint developer of the The Wings. A 27,000 square metre Grade A office complex located on Ozumba Mbadiwe Street in Victoria Island, Lagos. The Wings is one-of-a-kind development that guarantees prospective tenants world class experience when completed and delivered as scheduled in September this year.
“This is one of the Grade A office buildings with all the facilities befitting such developments. We are preparing world class experience for the tenants that will be coming into the building”, Wallace Wilkins, a director at RMB Westport, assured at a Tenant Forum in Lagos recently.
“We have a 700 parking bay which is the first of its kind in Lagos”, Wilkins noted, adding that the restaurant facility, which they were giving to their tenants, distinguished the building from any other because, as he put it, the restaurant was an important component that would allow the tenants to refresh themselves as the need arose.
As a development, The Wings is designed to offer a market blend of the highest technical specifications, convenience and security and provides a first class business atmosphere that enhances firms’ operational capabilities and, at the same time, permitting users to go about their day-to-day business.
CHUKA UROKO