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CONSTRUCTION WORLD
NOVEMBER
2015
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MARKETPLACE
LISTING ON THE JSE
Balwin Properties Limited, South Africa’s
largest homebuilder focusing on large
scale sectional-title residential estates in
high-growth, high-density metropolitan
nodes in South Africa’s major cities,
recently announced its intention to list on
the main board of the JSE Limited subject
to requisite approvals.
Since establishment in 1996, Balwin has successfully
developed, marketed and sold over 70 prominent
residential estates comprising some 13 500 residential
units, the bulk of which were delivered since large scale operations began
in 2005. Balwin controls and manages the entire development process,
from land identification, acquisition and zoning to pre-sales and marketing,
construction and construction management, sourcing of materials and
fittings, safety and quality assurance, and the final handover to homebuyers.
Stephen Brookes, chief executive officer and founder of Balwin said:
“Our listing is an exciting and important next phase in the evolution of
Balwin. Listing on the JSE will grant us access to the capital markets and
enhance our profile. It will also support our strong development pipeline
and geographical expansion.
“Our developments appeal to a cross-section of buyers offering secure,
high-quality spacious and environmentally friendly one, two and three
bedroom residential apartments conveniently located in key nodes with
on-site lifestyle amenities including restaurants, a club-house, sport and
entertainment facilities.
“Balwin offers an investment opportunity with excellent growth prospects
backed by a significant pipeline and land-bank, leading market position,
strong cash generating ability and the scalability to mitigate macro-eco-
nomic impacts, including an exciting strategic initiative to develop, retain
and manage a portion of future developments as a rental portfolio, growing
to around 2 000 to 3 000 units by 2020,” Brookes added.
The high market demand for quality housing in the target price range is
supported by robust structural market fundamentals. This, combined with
excellent project management capabilities, will see Balwin sell over 1 600
units this year and deliver an after tax profit of around R550-million for the
financial year to 29 February 2016 (excluding once-off listing costs).
“The demand for new smaller-sized, higher density apartments and
townhouses remains robust, accounting for more than 70% of new housing
built in South Africa over the past 20 years. This trend is in line with similar
emerging economies and is driven by factors such as urbanisation, growing
population and growing middle class, land scarcity, building costs, housing
affordability, property costs such as rates, taxes and levies, safety concerns
with stand alone housing, as well as lifestyle changes, especially in the
metropolitan areas of the country,” Brookes concluded.
Balwin has a secured project pipeline of approximately eight years which,
together with continually identified land acquisitions is expected to drive
future growth. The company is also currently negotiating the acquisition of
an additional land parcel in the Kyalami node, on which a further ±15 000
sectional-title residential units may be developed.
Balwin is currently owned 70% by management and 30% by its private
equity partner, Buffet Investments. Investec Bank has been appointed as
book runner in relation to the proposed listing.
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CEO OF THE YEAR
Sika has won the award for best CEO of the year beating
competition from the largest listed companies in
Switzerland. The ranking is compiled by Obermatt, a
Swiss financial research firm focused on indexing
company performance.
NEW ACQUISITION
Otis, part of Otis Elevator, the world’s
largest manufacturer and maintainer
of people-moving products, including
elevators, escalators and moving
walkways, announced recently the
acquisition of the local service business
of ThyssenKrupp Elevator (South Africa).
The transaction will give customers access to
Otis expertise in service and maintenance and
expand Otis’ capabilities in the region. Otis is a part
of UTC Building & Industrial Systems, a unit of United Tech-
nologies Corporation.
“This acquisition will increase our operational foot-
print, connecting us with new customers and increasing
the number of units we maintain and repair,” said Segren
Reddy, managing director, Otis Southern Africa. “We believe
this acquisition will result in great benefits for our new and
existing customers, including the opportunity to discuss Otis
solutions for new equipment and modernisation products in
building rejuvenation projects in South Africa.”
Employees currently working for ThysssenKrupp will be
incorporated into Otis business units. Terms of the transac-
tion will not be disclosed.
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The Obermatt CEO of the Year
rankings measure a company’s
performance against that of its
competitors. The performance metrics
that are monitored are: sales growth,
operating performance (EBITDA) and
total shareholder return.
The top ranking of Sika is based on its
strong results of the past three years – the
best ever in Sika’s history. Sika outper-
formed companies such as Geberit, Lindt
& Sprüngli, Barry Callebaut and Givaudan
while others such as Roche, Nestlé or
Novartis did not reach the top ten ranking.
Sika CEO Jan Jenisch acknowledges
Sika’s global employees as follows:
“Friends, this award goes to all of you
and we would like to congratulate you for
making Sika one of the most successful
companies. You consequently imple-
mented Sika’s STRATEGY 2018 and made
our GROWTHMODELwork. Wewould like
to thank you for your passion and huge
efforts which make Sika such a successful
company. Please extend our compliments
to your teams and employees who all
contributed to this success.”
Sika CEO, Jan Jenisch.
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