JOHANNESBURG - South African stock exchange investors are about
to get their first opportunity to bet on income from housing students enrolled
at the country’s campuses.
Inkunzi Wealth Group, a
Johannesburg-based money manager, intends to offer shares in a student
accommodation fund on the city’s main exchange before the year is out, Chief
Executive Officer Owen Nkomo said in an interview.
There’s demand from listed
property investors for an alternative to exposure to shopping malls, offices
and residential buildings, he said.
“We could have listed a general fund, but we decided there’s too many of these
already we need to bring a different story,” said Nkomo, 37, whose firm has
been operating since 2011. He wouldn’t disclose how much money Inkunzi oversees
for clients.
The Inkunzi Student Accommodation Fund’s assets will include 2.2 billion rand
($165 million) of student residences13 buildings constructed to provide housing
at campuses in South Africa’s
Eastern Cape, Gauteng
and Mpumalanga
provinces. The fund could later make purchases in Australia and other countries,
Nkomo said.
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advance in the main gauge. The MSCI World Real Estate Investment Trusts Index
has climbed 6 percent.
Inkunzi has identified an attractive area of specialization within the sector,
said Nkomo, who earlier in his career worked for Citigroup Deutsche Bank and
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
“We wanted to get into a niche space, which we are in right now student
accommodation.” Once the listing is
completed, Nkomo will step down as CEO, while remaining chairman and devoting
time to the student accommodation fund, he said. Sphelele Mncube, who joined Inkunzi
from Allan Gray in 2013, will succeed him.