But Pangbourne, which owns a 63,4% stake in Monyetla, will renounce the new units to Pangbourne unitholders in order to reduce its interest in Monyetla to below 45%.

Pangbourne, which has significant interests in several listed property companies including iFour Properties, Siyathenga Property Fund and Monyetla, has a policy of not having more than a 45% interest in any of the property funds in its stable.

Pangbourne CEO Craig Hutchison said on Friday that Monyetla would issue 114-million units at R3,10 a unit to raise the money.

About R235m would be used to repay a loan owed to Pangbourne for a portfolio of 24 properties acquired by Monyetla from Pangbourne.

Hutchison said Pangbourne shareholders would have an opportunity through the Pangbourne rights offer to subscribe for 41,5-million of the new Monyetla units at R3,10.

"If there are any left they will go to external investors," he said.

Hutchison said Pangbourne's investment in Monyetla would be diluted to below 45% by the issue.

Monyetla is to be Pangbourne's specialised office property fund in what Pangbourne refers to as its "octopus strategy".

Pangbourne facilitates the formation of specialised property companies with specific property focuses or "legs".

Siyathenga, for instance, has a focus on retail properties.

"Pangbourne is putting a high quality office portfolio into Monyetla. This is part of our specialised fund strategy which gives investors the choice of investing in the property sector where they feel they can get the best return," said Hutchison.

He said the timing of the launch of the specialised office property fund had been "ideal" because of the major increase in demand for office space in the market.

Property analysts are in agreement that the office property sector will experience boom conditions over the next year because there is a shortage of space and the rate of office vacancies is extremely low.