Vividend acquires Vusani portfolio
Property loan stock company Vividend Income Fund said yesterday it had entered into an agreement with Vusani Property Investments to acquire a portfolio of retail and commercial properties for R790m.
Vividend, which listed almost a year ago, said it would fund the purchase consideration through a combination of debt and new equity raised from new or existing holders of linked units.
The company, which was incorporated in February last year and acquired its first property and associated letting enterprise with effect from September that year, said the acquisition was consistent with its strategy of identifying and acquiring properties that have free cash-flow yields that provide adequate value enhancement to linked unitholders from the effective date of the acquisition.
It said the acquisition would allow Vividend to maintain its timelines, objectives and projections for the 2012 financial period while enhancing the quality, stability and longevity of the company’s earnings. The effective date of the acquisition shall be the date of transfer of the Vusani portfolio into the name of the company, which, subject to fulfilment of the conditions precedent, was expected on April 1.
Vividend said a "reasonable degree" of certainty existed that the distribution per linked unit for the year ended August would be within 5% of the distribution forecast in the prospectus.
The company had forecast a distribution per linked unit of 34c, based on the assumption that R500m was raised by a private placement.
It had already paid an interim distribution of 9,96c per linked unit for the 2011 financial year.
Vividend also announced that it had appointed Brian Bank as an independent nonexecutive director, with effect from yesterday.
Vividend is still relatively small, with a portfolio valued at less than R1bn. The plan was to grow the fund’s portfolio to R1,5bn by the end of next year.
London-based Credo, equity asset managers, and SA’s Element Investment Managers had invested R150m in the fund.
