HBW Group Pty Limited, a South African real-estate developer, plans to raise $85m by selling shares in an African property fund as retailers look for land to expand in the world's second-fastest growing region.
African Land Investments Limited will list on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in July and on the bourse in Lusaka, Zambia's capital, is Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Tony Vassilopoulos, said in an interview on April 23.
Bloomberg News reports that the fund will invest in property in nations including Ghana, Kenya, Zambia and Mozambique, he said.
As South Africa's commercial property market becomes saturated, retailers are looking to other countries on the continent for expansion, Vassilopoulos said.
Sub-Saharan Africa is also attracting European retailers struggling in their home markets, he said. Growth in the region is forecast at 5.6 per cent this year, faster than 3.3 per cent globally, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Only developing Asia is projected to have a higher rate, at 7.1 per cent.
Six of the 10 fastest-growing countries in the world over the past decade were African, according to Johannesburg-based Rand Merchant Bank.
The FirstRand Limited unit in October raised $350m to develop real estate in West Africa. Liberty Holdings Limited, a Johannesburg-based insurer, plans a $150m property-development fund for countries including Nigeria and Kenya.
