Good time to look offshore

Property is the world's most popular investment today, no doubt about it and there are definite opportunities for property investors to acquire commercial properties offshore, particularly in the eastern Europe.

There are definite opportunities for investors to acquire properties offshore, particularly in the eastern Europe.

Property is the world's most popular investment today, no doubt about it and the ability to invest in offshore property via various JSE-listed companies is a welcome news for investors looking to diversify their portfolios.

However, in terms of share price growth excluding income payout growth, only firms focused on eastern Europe have delivered strong returns over the past two years.

The best performer has been Rockcastle Global Real Estate which has chosen Poland as its destination of choice.

It has only recently begun to develop a direct property portfolio, having only owned stakes in property companies before. It owns one mall and is developing another in Poland. Rockcastle also has assets in Zambia.

Despite its short history in owning property directly, Rockcastle Global Real Estate has grown 101% from R15.19 to R30.55 from May 29 last year to the close of business on Friday.

Romanian shopping centre owner New Europe Property Investments (Nepi) has also excelled over the past year.

Nepi’s share price has increased 61% to close at R141.65 on Friday since it closed at R88 on May 29 last year.

Nepi, which is Romania’s largest shopping centre owner, has diversified into Serbian shopping centres and is also looking at other countries in eastern Europe.

Most of the other South African funds which own property abroad are involved in Europe’s two largest economies: Germany and the UK.

The largest JSE-listed property group, with a market capitalisation of R83bn, is Intu Properties, which was created by the unbundling of Liberty International. Its portfolio is made up of prime UK shopping malls. Intu Properties has achieved about 46% share price growth over the past five years.

This is ahead of the second- largest JSE-listed property company and the largest with most of its assets in SA, Growthpoint Properties, which grew about 43% over the same period.

However, Growthpoint does have a majority stake in Growthpoint Properties Australia.

Another South African fund in Australia is Investec Australia Property Fund. Its share price growth has been more modest than other offshore funds, growing 8% from R11.50 to R12.41 over the past 12 months.

Redefine International, the European arm of Redefine Properties, has a large presence in Germany and the UK. It also owns properties in Switzerland, the Netherlands and Australia. Its share price growth over the past year is about 3.77%. Over five years, it is nearly 28%.

In terms of underperformers abroad, MAS Real Estate is down more than 9% over the past year.

On a five-year basis, its share price is up more than 80%. MAS invests in property in Switzerland, Germany and the UK.

While not many South African funds are likely to list separately in Europe this year, many are seeking assets to diversify their portfolios.