Africa Real Estate Platform

active

The proposed investment involves IFC’s participation in the establishment of and the first capital raise for the Africa Real Estate Platform (AREP), an investment platform, which will acquire (and in certain instances develop) and manage a portfolio of income producing commercial properties in Africa. It is expected that, after several rounds of capital raising and deployment, AREP will reach an optimal size for an initial public offering (IPO) on a major stock exchange and convert into a form analogous to a real estate investment trust (REIT), which will achieve liquidity within 5-7 years. AREP is conceived to become one of the first REITs in SSA and the first Africa-focused collective investment vehicle designed to ramp up to a size feasible for a major stock exchange listing. AREP will target multiple countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region and will provide institutional investors, including African pension funds, with an opportunity for diversification.AREP will comprise: (i) an investment holding company (HoldCo), which will pool investors’ funds and use them to acquire income producing commercial properties in target African countries; and (ii) an asset management company (ManCo), which will manage HoldCo’s assets on commercial terms. Investors’ returns will come from rental cash flows of the property portfolio, as well as from capital appreciation.