Redefine said this was in line with its stated strategy of weighting its portfolio in favour of physical properties, which offered better value in terms of both yield and growth.

Redefine was the first listed property company to advocate a combination of investment in fixed property investments and listed property stocks when it listed on the JSE Securities Exchange SA in February 2000. This type of investment vehicle was termed a "hybrid".

In May this year, when Redefine announced its strategy of reducing its investments in listed property, it said that listed property was generally trading at a premium to net asset value.

This made fixed property more attractive because it was cheaper.

Mariette Warner, fund manager of Stanlib Property Income Fund, said she thought Redefine was doing the right thing because the company would have made a significant capital gain on the sale of the Sycom units.

When the listed property market bottomed out in 2002, Sycom was trading at R7,45. Since March 2002, Sycom's unit price has appreciated 39%.

Warner said proceeds of the sale of Sycom units could be reinvested in higher yielding or cheaper physical property.

She said although physical property was cheaper than listed property stock at the moment, this "window is closing rapidly" as physical property was becoming more expensive because of a lack of good quality stock.

Redefine CE Brian Azizollahoff said Redefine had a listed property portfolio worth R1,37bn, while its physical property stock was worth about R1,6bn.

Azizollahoff said Redefine now had a portfolio with about 60% fixed properties and 40% listed securities.