SA property brand Primegro is to be reborn and listed as a property loan stock company on the JSE in the second quarter of this year.

Norbert Sasse was appointed CEO of Growthpoint Properties Limited today (Tuesday 24 August, 2004).

LISTED property group Growthpoint Properties, the largest property fund on the JSE Securities Exchange SA, yesterday reported a 4,7% increase in the interim distribution to 33,5c for each linked unit for the six months ended December 31 2003.

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.

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 R1,2bn acquisition of the entire Richway portfolio has exposed property investment company Primegro to interest rates volatility, resulting in a stalled growth in earnings.