Van Niekerk to run Fountainhead

Van Niekerk has extensive experience as a listed property analyst and a property company executive. He says he intends to provide a more focused strategy to the fund's portfolio.

Redefine‚ which owns Fountainhead's management company and has a significant shareholding in the trust‚ in April announced various plans for Fountainhead including the appointment of a chief executive‚ after it appeared unlikely that Growthpoint Properties would gain control of the fund.

Fountainhead said acting chief executive‚ Alex Phakathi‚ would resume his role as acquisitions and disposals executive at Redefine from July.

Following a decision by the independent committee of Fountainhead's board to end discussions with Growthpoint regarding Growthpoint's bid for Fountainhead's assets‚ Redefine announced various plans for the trust in April.

These included the appointment of various staff including a full-time CEO‚ a financial director and portfolio managers.

Redefine's Marc Wainer said at the time Redefine intended to run the trust along the lines of a listed company.

Retail bias

Redefine had identified a number of projects that would add value to Fountainhead's major retail assets‚ including Centurion Mall‚ The Brightwater Commons and Kenilworth Centre.

Wainer said there would also be a focus on restructuring the trust's debt‚ while disposing of non-core‚ generally smaller properties.

Van Niekerk said on Tuesday (18 June) that much of his focus would be on "clarifying the strategy and focusing the portfolio".

"The fund would retain its retail bias," he said. 'A major focus is on upgrades‚ extensions and refurbishments of the fund's retail assets. Acquisitions and possible disposals will be considered‚" Van Niekerk said.

He said there were opportunities to improve the cost of debt at Fountainhead.

Fountainhead was recently the target in an escalating bidding war between Redefine and Growthpoint‚ who both looked to acquire the trust's portfolio worth more than R10bn.

While Redefine withdrew its offer in March and Growthpoint withdrew in June‚ Growthpoint has said it is still interested in acquiring the assets.

Growthpoint withdrew after the decision by Fountainhead board's independent committee to cease engagement‚ although Growthpoint referred a number of claims to the Financial Services Board (FSB) and the JSE‚ including that Redefine be precluded from voting its shares in a unit-holder vote.

Redefine said on last week that following an investigation into Growthpoint's allegations‚ the JSE confirmed that they have found no breaches by Redefine of the JSE listings requirements.

Growthpoint had sought a ruling in its favour which would have allowed it to reopen negotiations to acquire the trust's assets.

Source: Business Day via I-Net Bridge