The Colony was acquired in 2009 shortly after the financial crisis hit in October 2008 with the culmination of the bankruptcy of Leman Brothers. It was a difficult time to put a deal together due to the uncertainty in the world economy and the SA banks were no in the mood for lending.
Sandy Centre was acquired in Oct 2012 for R24m from a private seller who owned both the Kwikspar and the Centre. He was only willing to sell the centre to us once he had sold his Kwikspar. We had first negotiated with the seller some 2 years before when he changed his mind about selling.
Read MoreUnity Properties worked on the negotiations on Dube for approximately one year before the deal was finally concluded and we took transfer in June 2012. The investors raised R10m in equity to buy the property and initially borrowed R16,5m to cover the purchase price and acquisition costs.