RMB Properties’ property management division is surging ahead. From what was essentially an in-house operation to manage group properties, it has grown its portfolio of properties under management from R4.4bn to close to R11bn in four years.

Says the director in charge, Scott Thorburn:

“In the past four years RMBP’s property management division has evolved from a small, institutional property manager focused around the management of RMBP and Momentum buildings to a large, multi-client property manager in the public domain.”

Its latest “win” was to be awarded the property management contract for an additional R750m worth of property by private property company, Attacq.

Thorburn, says the division was initially given the contract to manage Attacq-owned properties in Cape Town and Johannesburg as part of a purchase agreement. However, due to RMB Properties’ performance, its mandate has now been extended to cover an addition R750m worth of Attacq-owned properties. It is now managing Attacq properties worth a total of R1.2bn.

Not only has the division taken on a bigger portfolio of properties to manage, Thorburn says it has been extremely successful in the process, helping property owners to maximise the return on their assets.

Good examples of this are the Emira and Freestone Property Funds, both managed by RMBP and both of whom have been consistently outperforming industry benchmarks – despite the fact that many of the properties in these portfolios came from the underperforming, old Bonatla and Aprop Property Funds.

From being almost an exclusive in-house property management company, 31% of RMBP property management portfolio is now made up of institutional clients, 52% of its portfolio is managed on behalf of listed property companies and 17% of its book is in the private property sector.

The company has a national footprint with offices in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Bloemfontein, Cape Town and Gaborone in Botswana. It offers its clients the full spectrum of services from an in-houses property services department and in-house brokers, through to tenant installation, legal services, IT systems solutions and broker consultants.

One of the big pluses, says Thorburn, is the leverage that comes from being part of the FirstRand Group stable in terms of the strong brand name, buying power, excellent insurance rates, not to mention the flow of in-house introductory business.

In 1999 the division launched a new property management company, 3D Properties, which is focused around the management of underperforming properties in a much more hands-on manner, to distinguish its activities from the principal RMBP property management brand.  The results of this subtle change in management have been very successful and the model is now being rolled out in the management of RMB Properties (Pty) Ltd branded properties with similar success.

Says Thorburn:

“Now more than ever before we are competing head-on with the established, independent property management houses. Our success in the listed and institutional property sector has given us the confidence to push aggressively into the private property management market.

“The competitive advantage of being associated with the FirstRand Group and the larger portfolio of properties we now have under management has allowed us to pass the economies of scale we derive from this unique position on to our clients in the form of reduced site staff costs, better insurances rates and stronger group purchasing power for services and capital items.”

Ends 

ISSUED BY:                MOTIV INVESTOR COMMUNICATIONS

                                    Graham Fiford Tel: (011) 305 - 7312

 
ON BEHALF OF:        RMB PROPERTIES

                                    Scott Thorburn Tel: (011) 775 1050