Lango Real Estate to acquire $200m African retail portfolio

Source: Supplied. Thomas Reilly, chief executive officer of Lango.

Lango, a real estate company focused on direct investments into prime commercial assets in key gateway cities across the African continent, agreed on the acquisition of a portfolio of four shopping malls located in Accra, Ghana and Lagos, Nigeria, with an attributable value in excess of $200m.

The assets acquired include three retail assets in Ghana, including the iconic Accra Mall, one of the leading retail assets on the continent, along with Kumasi City Mall and West Hills Mall.

Ikeja City Mall, arguably the most successful retail asset in Nigeria, was also acquired. The portfolio was acquired by means of an issue of Lango shares to the vendors, along with part debt-finance, with RMB acting as lead arranger.

Launched in 2018, Lango was originally established by South Africa’s largest primary JSE-listed Reit, Growthpoint Properties Limited, and LSE- and JSE-listed global investment manager, Ninety One (previously Investec Asset Management). Growthpoint also has an estimated 20% shareholding in Lango, alongside other notable South African and international institutional investors.

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Lango has an established track record in concluding successful and accretive transactions, such as the RMB Westport property portfolio, a significant portfolio acquisition on the continent (excluding South Africa), and has achieved further significant growth. It has successfully managed to aggregate a high-quality portfolio of commercial real estate assets to attain meaningful scale and relevance in the sector.

Lango focuses on prime income-generating office, industrial and retail assets spread across key gateway cities in four countries: Ghana, Zambia, Nigeria and Angola. Assets include landmark properties such as the Standard Bank (Stanbic) head office in Ghana, Standard Chartered head office in Ghana, Manda Hill Shopping Centre in Zambia, and The Wings, an A-grade office complex in Victoria Island, Lagos.

Thomas Reilly, chief executive officer of Lango, says, “This transaction is a significant milestone for Lango and not only fits squarely into our growth strategy, but is also highly accretive.

"The scale achieved by Lango undoubtedly positions it as a leading sub-Saharan African firm in the industry. Lango will now have c.$875m of assets under management across four countries, with arguably some of the best-performing landmark commercial properties across both the retail and office sectors in select growth cities.

"These assets are well-positioned to allow Lango to extract synergies and further enhance growth with a high degree of resilience to differing market cycles.”

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Reilly adds, “We are excited to once again take advantage of a highly attractive entry-point in the cycle, adding quality yielding assets in select cities to our asset base at competitive prices, which we believe have the potential to offer strong growth prospects. The business continues to enjoy significant momentum, and we expect this to aid in the delivery of sustainable long-term investor returns.”

Morne Wilken, chief executive officer of Hyprop, adds, “Hyprop management has previously committed itself to achieving several strategic initiatives, with the exit of sub-Saharan Africa being one of the last remaining initiatives to be completed. The successful implementation of this transaction will achieve this initiative, and we look forward to working with Lango to completion.”

Attacq chief executive officer, Jackie van Niekerk, comments, “Our Rest of Africa (ex-South Africa) investment has become a small component of Attacq’s real estate investments and has been earmarked as part of an exit strategy by way of an orderly disposal. We are delighted to reach a point where a transaction with a credible counterpart in Lango has been agreed.”

Reilly concludes, “The growth and scale that Lango has achieved, supported by our partners in this transaction, enhances Lango’s ability to further entrench and capitalise on its position as a dominant player in the African real estate market, and creates a platform to facilitate considerable future growth as it heads toward a listing on the LSE.”