One South African real estate company, wey dem dey call Lango don knack deal to buy properties wey Hyprop Investments Limited and Attacq Limited get for Nigeria and Ghana.
For one joint statement wey dem release on August 12, Lango don agree to buy Accra Mall, Kumasi City Mall, West Hills Mall for Ghana, plus Ikeja City Mall (ICM) for Nigeria, all for $200 million.
According to di tori, dem take Lango shares and small loan join hand buy di properties. Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) na di one wey arrange di money matter.
Hyprop and Attacq bin hold di Ikeja City Mall since 2015 when dem first buy am. Hyprop bin get 75 percent of di mall, while Attacq hold di remaining 25 percent.
Lango CEO, Thomas Reilly, talk say this new acquisition na big deal for dem. He say di deal fit well well with their plan to grow di company and e go still add better value.
“Di level wey Lango don reach now don make am stand gidigba as one of di big companies for Sub-Saharan Africa. Now we go get almost $875 million worth of assets to manage for four different countries, with some of di top commercial properties wey dey perform well for retail and office space,” Reilly yarn.
Di man still talk say di properties dey positioned well to help dem grow more, even as market dey change from time to time.
“We dey happy say we don enter this deal for di right time, buy correct assets for selected cities at beta prices. We believe say dem go give us strong growth. Di company dey move fast, and we believe say e go help give our investors better returns for long time,” Reilly add.
Hyprop CEO, Morne Wilken, still yarn say di company don dey work on some plans before, and to comot from Sub-Saharan Africa na di last part of the plan wey dem wan complete.
“To finish this deal go help us complete that our plan, and we dey ready to work with Lango till di deal final,” he talk.
Jackie van Niekerk, wey be di CEO of Attacq, still add say their investments for Africa outside South Africa no too big again for their portfolio, so dem don dey plan how dem go sell off dem properties small small.
“We happy say we don reach this point wey we fit do transaction with correct people like Lango,” Niekerk talk.
But di price of di deal don make some people dey ask questions. Bright Simons, vice-president of IMANI (one Ghana policy and education think-tank), yarn for one post on Sunday say di four malls sell at price wey no reach di value wey dem announce.
Simons talk say di four malls dey sold at “big loss for di young company”.
“When I see di press coverage wey too sweet, my mind no rest because I don dey investigate di World Bank IFC mall investments as part of my project to understand how dem really take benefit people for ground,” he talk.