Monday July 15 2024 08:00
There are concerns that JSE-listed Texton Property Fund is being mismanaged in ways which also undermine the group’s minority shareholders. The group has had a tumultuous time under many CEOs since it was formed out of the takeover of Vunani Property Investment Fund.
Several minorities have said that Texton’s largest shareholders are buying more allotments of shares at frequent periods.
“They are buying them effectively on the cheap, with the intention of delisting the company in the future,” a shareholder who is also the CEO of a listed property group said.
Texton was formerly known as Vunani Property Investment Fund. It was formed in 2006 and listed on the JSE in 2011 with Rob Kane as its CEO. Kane is chair of the Cape Town Central City Improvement District and CEO of Boxwood Properties.
In 2014, a consortium led by investor Angelique de Rauville took over Vunani and renamed the company Texton. It also expanded into the UK and co-invested with retail tycoon Christo Wiese. Wiese was a significant investor in Tradehold and in Texton. The two companies together developed the Broad Street Mall in Reading in the UK through a joint venture. Wiese later sold his stake in Texton saying the investment no longer offered substantial enough value to him. Kane left his role in 2014. Since his departure Texton has disappointed the market. Vunani’s share price enjoyed nine years of year-on-year growth, reaching R12.15 a share at the time of the takeover. Today it has a share price trading at R3.36 and a market capitalisation of R1.1bn.
But many CEOs have not managed to make Texton thrive again. De Rauville brought investment banker Nic Morris in and she soon left the fund with a multi-million rand payout. Morris also left the group as did his successor businesswoman Nosiphiwo Balfour within a two year period between the end of 2016 and the end of September 2018. Marius Muller who had some 25 years of property management experience then joined in December 2018, before resigning in March 2020. He left his role at the end of June 2020. Pienaar Welleman has been CEO since while Marcel Golding is the chairman.
Golding has denied that Texton will be delisted in the near future.
alistair@propertyflash.co.za
