Redefine announced an offer yesterday of R564m for the assets of Bonatla, while ApexHi, which is controlled by Redefine, made a R243,3m offer for Fairvest.

These moves have set the stage for a serious scrap in the listed property sector. Vontas indicated he would not surrender without a fight. 'Whether friendly or hostile the Redefine deal will not happen,' he said yesterday. 'We will have to study the Fairvest offer.'

Redefine's move threatens to scupper Vontas's attempts to merge the assets of Fairvest and Bonatla.

Vontas's merger proposal came after speculation, sparked by cautionary notices, that there were moves to merge Bonatla with iFour and A-Prop, a Redefine-orchestrated move. Redefine has interests in both A-Prop and iFour.

Vontas's proposal was seen as a counter to the iFour/A-Prop consideration. This consideration seems to have faltered as iFour and A-Prop withdrew their notices in the past two weeks, convincing the market Vontas had won.

Redefine's move comes as a renewed attack. With strong financial backing from Corpcapital Bank, Redefine has emerged victorious in its few battles over the two years it has existed. The group outdid Roger and Brett Kebble when it took out the assets of Rand Leases Properties.

Through its controlling interests in Hyprop, Redefine looks set to win the battle for the prime assets of Cenprop, owner of The Mall of Rosebank and JHI House.

For Bonatla's assets, Redefine has offered R88m in its own linked units, plus the assumption of R20m of short-term debt and Bonatla's mortgage debts of up to R456m.

For Fairvest's assets, ApexHi has offered the value of the Fairvest mortgage finance, R75,3m, in its own units.

ApexHi also released results for the six months ended December which showed headline earnings rose to R119,7 from R88,6m.