Today, Exemplar REITail Limited (JSE:EXP) listed on the Main Board of the Johannesburg Stock Exhange (JSE), joining a diverse group of real estate companies represented on the bourse.
Borne of a company with over 35 years of experience in its field, Exemplar is a focused retail fund specialising in owning, internally managing and growing a portfolio of shopping malls typically in under-serviced, peri-urban townships and rural areas of South Africa. Exemplar has a portfolio of 20 income-generating properties spanning over 365 000sqm across 6 provinces in South Africa.
The company also boasts a market capitalisation of just over R3 billion and a property portfolio valued at over 5 billion. Three new shopping centres that are currently under construction, will be added to the Exemplar portfolio during the next two years; placing the company on an accelerated growth path towards becoming a primary, property and investment destination of choice on the African continent.
Donna Nemer, Director of Capital Markets at the JSE welcomed Exemplar to the exchange and said: "As an exchange, we are committed to the growth and development of our markets and we are working hard to make sure we use every day to improve our products and services, our technology and our pricing, so that we can help our clients bring more investors to the market. This new listing affirms that we are taking strides in the right direction, as it will broaden the range of prime investments opportunities that investors can explore on the JSE".
The South African listed property sector has continued to grow in leaps and bounds over the past few years. The listing this morning makes Exemplar the 59th company to list in the Real Estate sector. The sector has a total market capitalisation of R709.16bn which is 5.1% of the overall JSE market capitalisation. This year a total of R6.5 billion has already been raised in the real estate sector which is 32% of the overall capital raised on the JSE in 2018 thus far.
The steady growth in this sector contributes to making the JSE an attractive listing destination for companies.
"We are ecstatic to bring the Exemplar portfolio into the listed space", says CEO of Exemplar, Jason McCormick. "This represents over 35 years of timeless dedication towards developing and managing some of the most successful retail real estate in South Africa and the most exciting part, is that this is only the beginning."
"With first right to McCormick Property's incredible pipeline of over 50 000sqm GLA and our ability to now make accretive acquisitions, this listing places our historical portfolio on an accelerated growth path – a truly momentous moment in our history."
The REIT structure, which was introduced on the JSE in 2013, offers investors exposure a wide variety of properties and mortgages that can be managed through a JSE-listed instrument. REITs allow companies to harness the benefit of enhanced tax efficiency, as tax is payable by the end investor and ultimately, enabling investors to pocket more dividends. The growth of REITs gives investors the opportunity to get exposure to the property market without the large initial capital cost.
The Exemplar listing brings the total number of companies listed on the JSE to 373.
