The successful acquisition marks Delta Africa’s first foray into the Mauritian market.
As is customary under Mauritian law, the formal deed of sale was concluded between the parties at the Mauritian notary’s office on 16 February, 2016 with transfer being registered on 22 February 2016 (the effective date of the transaction was however agreed as 1 December 2015).
“This yield-enhancing acquisition meets our rigid investment criteria of strong counter-party leases, underpinned by long-term contracts,” commented Bronwyn Corbett, Chief Executive of Delta Africa.
“We are very excited about our foray into Mauritius and support from the investment community here has been encouraging. Going forward, we plan to continue capitalising on the brand awareness and local knowledge gained in Delta Africa’s existing jurisdictions of Morocco and Mozambique where we have access to a large pipeline of assets,” she continued.
Barclays House is a six storey office complex with 150 parking spaces comprising a gross lettable area (GLA) of 7,700m2 tenanted by Barclays Bank PLC and Clear Ocean Hotel & Resort on long term leases.
The A-grade building is located in Cybercity, Ebene, a sought-after office node 15 km south of the Mauritian capital Port Louis. Other blue chip multinational tenants in the node include Orange, IBM, HSBC, PWC, EY, MCB, Standard Bank and Standard Chartered Bank amongst others.
The purchase consideration amounts to USD13.5 million at a yield attributable to shareholders of 7.3%. Broll Indian Ocean Limited, external chartered valuers, have attributed a value of MUR490 million (approximately USD13.8 million) to the property.
The successful transfer follows earlier announcements of Delta Africa’s further acquisitions in Zambia and Mozambique, as well as the release of the Company’s interim results for the six months ended 31 December 2015 on 18 February 2016. Delta Africa reported a 32.8% increase in its dividend to 6.17 US$ cents per share, representing an annualised dividend yield of 10.6% on the JSE and 7.1% on the SEM respectively.
