We manage fine, says Pareto

Pareto Limited CEO, Marius Muller said Mowana Properties is a milestone move for us and has been more than a year in the making. It is part of a bigger strategic move to bring property management in-house.

Pareto Limited CEO, Marius Muller has come out strongly against suggestions that institutions that maintain in-house property management services are less competitive than those that outsource to specialized property management houses.

Today, the company announced the established a new property management company - Mowana Properties - to manage both its own directly held property assets as well as that of the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), together valued at around R30 billion.

Pareto has a property portfolio worth R20 billion. It is owned by the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) and operates under the mandate of the PIC. The PIC’s assets are worth about R10 billion, made up of 181 properties across the country.

“Mowana Properties is a milestone move for us and has been more than a year in the making. It is part of a bigger strategic move to bring property management in-house and play a more active role in the transformation of the property sector,” says Pareto CEO, Marius Muller.

The board of Pareto approved the deal and establishment of the new company, which is solely owned by Pareto. Mowana will operate as a separate entity to house all property management and will have its own CEO and board.

Kevin Roman, Pareto’s Chief Operations Officer and a property industry specialist with more than two decades of experience in the sector, has been appointed CEO for the management company.

Pareto Chairman Saul Gumede has been appointed Chairman of Mowana, while Muller is an Executive Director.

Pareto owns a portfolio of regional and super-regional shopping centres. Besides being the full owner of Cresta Shopping Centre, Southgate Mall and Value Market, and Westgate Regional Shopping Centre, all in Johannesburg; and Menlyn Park Shopping Centre in the East of Pretoria, it also wholly owns The Pavilion in Durban; and Mimosa Mall in Bloemfontein.

In Cape Town, Pareto co-owns Tyger Valley Shopping Centre. The company also holds 25% of Sandton City and its surrounding assets including three high-rise office blocks, the Sandton Convention Centre and three hotels: Sandton Sun, The InterContinental Johannesburg Sandton Towers and Sandton Garden Court.