It will be operated by Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International Realty in SA and its formation has been sanctioned by Apollo Investment Corporation, the NYSE-listed holding company of Sotheby’s International Realty.

Savile Row Auctions, which will focus primarily on commercial and industrial property, will also sell residential and leisure properties through this medium as well as by private treaty and public tender.

Geffen, who is chairman of Sotheby’s International in SA as well as of Savile Row Auctions, says: “It’s like launching off a cruiser — Lew Geffen Sotheby’s Inter

“Savile Row Auctions is unique in the sense that it is the only auction house selling property that has the backing of a major real estate brand, with a national and international network.

“I have always believed in the free market and introduced this concept into the real estate world via parameter advertising which I have used for the past 30 years.

“I believe the residential real estate market is fine-tuned at the moment with sophisticated players, but I do not see the same infrastructure in the sale of commercial and industrial properties, and believe the auction platform is definitely the best way to create a free market price efficiently.

“What is more, if a property is not sold on auction it can always revert to sale by private treaty.”

The firm’s deputy chairman is entrepreneur Zanosi Kunene of Coca-Cola Bottling Company. The operational leadership is under Mark Kleynhans, well-known in commercial and industrial auctions. The first Savile Row auction sale of commercial and residential properties will take place on July 22 at Summer Place in Hyde Park, Johannesburg.