Nedbank Capital backs Stats SA's new Head Office Project

Nedbank Capital has acted as the mandated lead arranger and funder of the R1,4 billion new head office accommodation project for Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), says Mike Peo, Head of Infrastructure at Nedbank Capital.

Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) has boosted its financial resources for development of the R1,4 billion new head office accommodation project through a R1,15 billion loan from Nedbank Capital.

This is the latest project finance deal arranged by an investment bank for a government accommodation building on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) basis — in which Nedbank Capital acted as the mandated lead arranger and funder of the project.

Nedbank provided funding for the project amounting to R1,15 billion, with the equity being provided by Dipalopalo Concessions (Pty) Ltd comprising WBHO Construction (Pty) Ltd, Royal Bafokeng Holdings, Servest, Vulindela Holdings, Crowie Concessions and Fikile Concessions. 

The consortium was awarded the tender for the design, financing, construction and operation of the new head office building to accommodate Stats SA under a 26 year PPP agreement.

Stats SA currently operates out of three separate buildings, two of which were located in the Tshwane City centre and one in Pretoria West. This building will allow them to consolidate their operations into one central 59 000 m2 building which will streamline processes and achieve greater efficiencies. 

The new R1.4-billion building is currently under construction near Freedom Park in Tshwane and will include a 24/7 data processing centre, as well as a statistics training centre. 220 people are employed on the construction site and this is expected to rise to 1300 when the project reaches its peak in November 2014.

Mike Peo, Head of Infrastructure, Energy & Telecommunications at Nedbank Capital says, “Due to the extensive due diligence requirements and complex legal arrangements associated with deals of this nature, such transactions have historically taken a number of years to close. However, we are proud to have closed this PPP in record time. This was achieved through a huge degree of commitment by Stats SA coupled with the extensive experience of the project sponsors and the project advisors.”