PROPERTY loan stock company Growthpoint Properties, the biggest fund in the listed property sector, announced yesterday it would be buying Investec Bank's head office buildings in Sandton and Cape Town

Interview with Derek Greenberg

Growthpoint Properties has acquired the Investec Sandton head office at 100 Grayston Drive and Investec's Cape Town foreshore building, as well as the use of 580 parking bays at Merchant Place Parkade, for a total consideration of R975 million.

LISTED property asset management company Provest, which is part of Investec Bank, said yesterday that exposure to the retail sector had a positive effect on the earnings growth of property unit trusts.

LISTED property unit trusts Capital Property Fund and Centrecity Property Fund (Cenprop) announced yesterday that Mike Cullabine had resigned as a director of Property Fund Managers, the management company handling the two funds.

Property loan stock company Growthpoint reported a 33,5% increase in units traded over the past year, the company said on Friday.   

Property loan stock company Growthpoint Properties, which is managed by the Investec Property Group, posted solid results for the 12 months to June 30 this year, attributing surges in revenue and net property income to a large acquisition drive.

After a slump in interim income distribution, unit holders will be overjoyed to learn that management has taken "the first step in a process that will
see Paraprop establishing itself as a leading niche property loan stock". This message of hope, from MD Rodney Squire-Howe, could well beg the
question from your average cynic: What have they been doing up to now?Taking a chance on a capital structure that blew up in their faces is a fair
reply. 

Absa has probably saved Paraprop management by taking a R62m stake (34%) in this property loan stock company (PLS).

The Competition Tribunal is due to consider the acquisition of Primegro Properties by Growthpoint Properties.