Commercial property investors spoilt for choice with three new offshore property listings on JSE

Real estate investors looking for rand hedge opportunities without having to take money physically out of SA are becoming spoilt for choice, with another three new offshore property listings heading for the JSE.
Both Hammerson, the London Stock Exchange’s third-biggest property counter with a market cap of close to R80bn, and Echo Polska Properties (EPP), the Polish company in which Redefine Properties acquired a 49.9% stake earlier this year, are set to list in September.

Another Polish-focused company, GTC Group, is planning a secondary inward listing on the JSE on August 18. It has been listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange since 1994 and owns a €1.3bn retail and office portfolio across Poland, Serbia, Croatia and the Czech Republic.

The successful JSE debut of Hammerson, EPP and GTC will bring the number of new offshore property listings since February 2015 to eight. In July, the initial public offering of Resilient-backed Greenbay Properties raised a substantial R4bn. Greenbay focuses on shopping centres in Central and Eastern Europe.

While most new rand hedge offerings on the JSE have to date been well-supported, not every new listing will necessarily be a runaway success. Brexit jitters and geopolitical tension in Europe will no doubt see South African investors adopting a more cautious view.