October 17 2024 16:00
SOUTH AFRICA
Picture courtesy of ANVIL Property Smith
JSE-listed Hyprop Investments which owns blue chip shopping centres such as Canal Walk, Clearwater Mall, Rosebank Mall, The Glen, Somerset Mall, Cape Gate, among others, might sell Hyde Park Corner as it focusses on growth opportunities in the Western Cape.
The group, led by CEO Morné Wilken, who recently said in a recent interview with Property Flash that the JSE-listed real estate investment trust (Reit) was more likely to buy retail assets in the Western Cape than in Gauteng over the next few years. This was unless a high quality established shopping centre became available in Johannesburg or Pretoria which was unlikely. He said Hyprop did have some tail assets which could generate capital for redeployment.
In the past Johannesburg’s Hyde Park Corner, which is officially in Sandton and Johannesburg South’s The Glen have been up for sale. A number of brokers have told Property Flash that Hyde Park Corner is seeking as buyer again. This centre is one of the oldest in the country. In fact, it was the first fully enclosed decentralised shopping centre in South Africa when it opened in 1969. Over the years it has served a number of tourists who stayed at nearby hotels. During the 2010 Football World Cup, the Slovenia national team were resident at the Southern Sun which is located on its roof. It underwent a number of overhauls in the past decade and now boasts high-end luxury stores, a 4DX Nu Metro cinema, and an improved office section. Pick ‘n Pay will soon exit the mall and be replaced by a Checkers. It also boasts an upper-market Woolworths.
Wilken said that going into its financial results for the year to end-June 2025, the group would look to complete its exit from the rest of Africa and to expand deeper into eastern Europe. Hyprop is repositioning its portfolio while its loan-to-value (LTV) sits at 36.4%.
Hyprop’s share price is up 39.83% year to date, sitting at R43.26 by 16:00 on Thursday.
alistair@propertyflash.co.za
