Poised for majority stake in Railpark Mall owners, JTTM
In a deal worth a reported P140 million, Local Property Management company, Letlole La Rona (LLR) is close to upping their stake in Railpark Mall’s owners, JTTM Properties,
Speaking at the presentation of the company’s 2023 financial results, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kamogelo Mowaneng, revealed LLR will increase their stake by 25 percent, giving them a majority shareholding of 57.75 percent in JTTM.
“The acquisition will go a long way in improving the portfolio value for LLR and provide more returns for shareholders,” she said.
Meanwhile, LLR recorded profitability of P110 million, up 11.6 percent from last year’s P98.9 million. This was mainly driven by a 3 percent rise in rental revenue, from both industrial and retail properties, with less vacancies and favourable exchange rates playing their part.
“This great performance is an encouragement to us and it is underpinned by our focus on portfolio growth and optimization. We made a recovery from stagnating vacancy rates recorded in the first half of the financial year to high occupancies and strong collection rates of more than 100 percent. This together with improved market conditions, resulted in a significant increase in fair value gains both in our direct property investment and through our investment in JTTM,” explained Mowaneng.
The company’s investment properties were valued at P968 million as of 30 June, which was actually down from P1 billion in the previous year. The decrease was mainly due to the sale of some of its properties, including Cresta Lodge in Gaborone.
However, their investment portfolio grew by 15 percent, largely thanks to the acquisition of a 30 percent stake in Orbit Africa Logistics (OAL), a logistics company based in Kenya.
This is part of LLR’s Go-to-Africa strategy, which aims to diversify its portfolio and enhance stakeholder value by investing in other African markets. As it stands, as well as Kenya, the BSE-listed company is also actively pursuing opportunities in Zambia and Mozambique.
