Rockcastle Global Real Estate steps in to widen investor base

Resilient CEO Des de Beer said in September the group was “putting a lot of time and effort” into Rockcastle.

Rockcastle Global Real Estate Company said yesterday its investor base had widened and its shares had become more easily tradable during the three months ended September.

Rockcastle‚ which is also listed in Mauritius‚ is one of a spate of recent JSE property listings‚ most of which have looked to quickly bulk up their portfolios and improve their shares’ liquidity.

The company’s share price rose 1.11% to close at R13.65 on Tuesday on two deals.

Rockcastle invests globally in listed real estate assets and also intends growing its direct property portfolio‚ particularly in African assets. Its largest investments are in the US‚ followed by Europe‚ Canada‚ Singapore‚ the UK and Australia.

For the quarter ended September‚ Rockcastle reported a headline loss per share of 1.33 US cents‚ compared to headline earnings per share of 2.49c a year earlier.

While other regions contributed profit before tax‚ losses came from investments in the US and Canada. Over the three-month period‚ net asset value per share fell slightly to 1.13c from 1.15c.

Rockcastle said it was in the process of finalising various agreements for the acquisition of direct retail property assets in Africa‚ excluding South Africa.

The company said it would continue to pursue direct property opportunities “and will seek to raise additional capital accordingly”. Rockcastle said volatile global macro-economic conditions provided the company with various investment opportunities.

The company’s loan-to-value ratio was 40.6% at the end of the quarter. “Rockcastle’s portfolio is performing in line with management’s expectations‚” it said.

Annualised distributions were forecast to increase by about 5% for the 2014 financial year.

Rockcastle forms part of the Resilient family of property companies‚ each of which hold stakes in one another.

The group includes Resilient Property Income Fund‚ Capital Property Fund‚ Fortress Income Fund‚ New Europe Property Investments and Rockcastle.

Resilient CEO Des de Beer said in September the group was “putting a lot of time and effort” into Rockcastle.