Liberty to Start South African REIT That Will Trade Stock on JSE

(Bloomberg) -- Liberty Holdings Ltd., a South African insurer, will place a portion of its property portfolio in a real estate investment trust that will list its shares on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange this year.

The REIT, which will be overseen by the company’s money management unit, Stanlib, will probably have a net asset value of 10 billion rand ($741 million), Johannesburg-based Liberty said in a statement on Tuesday. The listing is not expected to impact Liberty’s share price because the properties are held to benefit policyholders, it said.

“The JSE listing will augment the value proposition to Liberty’s existing policyholders and enable greater opportunities for enhancing the returns profile of this portfolio of premier properties,” the company said. “The listing will also support expansion of and enhancements to the existing property assets, and broaden their accessibility to a wider investment community.”

Customers of Liberty’s investment and retirement annuity products will have preferential access to the stock, it said. Liberty appointed Standard Bank Group Ltd. and Java Capital as joint bookrunners and transaction advisers to the listing.

To contact the reporter on this story: Colin McClelland in Johannesburg at cmcclelland1@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Neil Callanan at ncallanan@bloomberg.net, Vernon Wessels, Michael Gunn