Pareto has a directly held property portfolio worth R20bn. It is owned by the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) and operates under the mandate of the PIC. Effective as of 1 December, the new property management company will manage the PIC's directly held property assets, which are made up of 181 retail, office and industrial properties across the country, worth approx. R10bn.
"Mowana Properties is a milestone move for us and has been more than a year in the making. It is part of a bigger strategic move to bring property management in-house and play a more active role in the transformation of the property sector," says Pareto CEO, Marius Muller.
Mowana will operate as a separate entity to house all property management and will have its own CEO and board. Kevin Roman, Pareto's Chief Operations Officer and a property industry specialist with more than two decades of experience in the sector, has been appointed CEO of Mowana. Pareto Chairman Saul Gumede has been appointed Chairman of Mowana, while Muller is an Executive Director.
Roman explains: "As a new vehicle, Mowana has been established to enable the company to be registered with the Estate Agents Affairs Board. All new directly held property acquisitions on the part of Pareto or the PIC will also fall under Mowana in terms of property management."
