Seeks to acquire property company in resort town of Maun
TLOTLO KEBINAKGABO
Botswana Stock Exchange-quoted property outfit, New African Properties (NAP), is aiming to spread its investment wings by acquiring an enterprise situated at Tribal Lot 1299 in Maun, together with the underlying leases and the right to collect rental, as a going concern from El Alamein (Pty) Ltd (ELA), the Competitions and Consumer Authority (CCA) has announced.
NAP, which listed on the BSE in September 2011, is a variable rate loan stock company whose major beneficial unit holders are Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF), Debswana Pension Fund (DPF) Cash Bazaar Holdings (Pty) Ltd (CB Holdings), Motor Vehicle Accident Fund (MVA) and Botswana Insurance Fund Management (BIFM).
BPOPF, DPF, MVA and BIFM are Botswana registered pension funds and fund managers while CB Holdings is an investment and holding company controlling certain entities in Botswana.
NAP owns 64 well-established, strategically located, primarily retail properties across Botswana. Some of these properties are Riverwalk, Kagiso Centre, Gaborone Shop-ping Centre, Riverwalk Plaza, Plot 8 Station and Madirelo Centre (all in Gaborone).
NAP’s primary objective is to provide returns to investors through income and capital growth superior to alter-native risk-related investments. They now aim to do that by acquiring ELA. “Pursuant to Section 49 (1) of the Competition Act of 2018, the Competition and Consumer Authority has received a merger notification for the proposed acquisition of the enterprise situated at Tribal Lot 1299 Maun, together with the underlying leases and the right to collect rental, as a going concern from El Alamein(Pty) Ltd by New African Properties Ltd (NAP),” CCA has announced.
Meanwhile, the selling enterprise, ELA, is a private company incorporated with limited liability in accordance with the laws of Botswana. ELA is owned by Kalahari Crafts (Pty) Ltd, a property company registered in Botswana by Harry Charalambous, a Motswana, who is also its director, with other business interests in Botswana which are not related to the proposed transaction.