Property company Hyprop Investments announced that Redefine has entered into an agreement to acquire an additional 19.687 million Hyprop units from Coronation Asset Management.

Retail property fund Hyprop Investments has reported a total distribution per combined unit to 328 cents for the year ended December 31, 2009, from 308 cents previously.

Redefine Properties has acquired a further 6 356 105 units in Hyprop, boosting its stake in the retail focused fund from 29,5% to 33,3%, valued at about R2,34-billion at current prices

Despite a drop in national retail sales and construction at three centres, retail sales in Hyprop's portfolio grew 1%.

Property group Hyprop reported headline earnings of R147.6m for the first six months of 2009, a turnaround from the R445m loss posted the same period last year.

Retail-focused Hyprop Investments has announced the appointment of Mike Rodel as CEO with effect from August, to oversee the completion of the company’s R663m expansion programme launched last year.

JSE-listed, Emira Property Fund, has become the latest of four well-established South African listed property funds to the join the Global Property Research 250 Index (GPR 250).

Hyprop Investments has announced that its total distribution for the year ended December 31 2008 has increased by 14.1% to 308 cents per combined unit.

It is not surprising that external management of property funds is so controversial. It you look at the results of Madison Property Fund Managers for December, it earned R138m from the three listed property funds it manages but it also had a second and third bite of the cherry, earning R12m in leasing fees and R14,2m in property management fees which were paid by the three property companies it already manages.

Standard  Bank has affirmed its confidence in listed property group Hyprop Investments by granting the firm R500m debt that Hyprop plans to invest in completing various upgrades on Canal Walk in Cape Town and Hyde Park Shopping and The Glen Shopping Centre in Johannesburg throughout the year.