Pretoria - The Competition Commission has recommended the approval, without conditions, of the proposed R2.47 billion merger between listed property loan stock companies Growthpoint and Primegro.

The listed property loan stock company, Paramount Property Fund (Paraprop) has concluded a deal with Absa Bank, whereby Absa will subscribe for 17 537 000 Paraprop linked units with effect from September 1 2003.

Listed property may be everybody's favourite JSE sector but, like a newly discovered celebrity without table manners, its corporate governance is generally an embarrassment

WHILE some of the better performing listed property loan-stock companies believe that there is room for a positive rerating, commentators say that this has already taken place and if there is another it will be small.

The whole property sector was set to be catapulted into the big time with the expected takeover earlier this week of Primegro by Growthpoint, the Investec property loan stock company.

LISTED property loan stock company Primegro announced yesterday that its basic headline earnings a linked unit were down 4,7% for the six months to April 30 this year, attributing it to the fact that interest rates had not yet been cut by the Reserve Bank.

Durban - Investec Property Group (IPG) yesterday announced the R2.5 billion merger of Growthpoint and Primegro, which would create the largest loan stock company on the JSE Securities Exchange.

The long-awaited listing of large numbers of property portfolios held by institutions has begun.

Further cautionary announcement.

Sage shareholders are advised that the company and its subsidiaries ("the Group") have concluded agreements with Growthpoint Properties Limited ("Growthpoint") and Metboard Properties Limited