Integrated launches East Africa Property fund

One year after Knight Frank’s Rutley Capital Partners launched a £101m East Africa fund, another UK-based firm, Integreated Property Investments, is planning a property fund for the region.

Integrated Property Investments, a UK firm launched in 2002 targeting real estate opportunities worldwide, is preparing a property fund dedicated to East Africa, according to Kenyan media reports.

The firm is seeking to launch the fund this year, and is planning a dual listing on the Nairobi and Dar es Salaam stock exchanges as a REIT, managing director Suleiman Dualeh told Kenya’s The Standard.

The funds will first invest in Bahari Beach resort, a 700 unit, mixed-use gated community off Dar es Salaam, that a sister company of Integrated Property Investments is developing, Dualeh said. The project will also comprise schools, a shopping, mall a clinic, office park and a hotel. The project began construction last month and the firm plans to construct the neighborhood in sex phases over four years.

The firm has received investments from Tanzanian banks and American institutional investors. The public listing in a REIT framework will be used to mitigate the cost of financing, Dualeh said. However East African countries have not yet set firm policies for REITs on their exchanges. Kenya was expected to have regulations in place by March although this has yet to happen. Four international and local real estate companies have expressed interest in listing at the stock exchange, according to The Standard. 

The fund launch comes less than a year after Rutley Capital Partners, the real estate private equity business of property agent Knight Frank, launched a Sh13 billion ($202 million, € 128 million, £101 million,) East African property fund. The fund is being run in conjunction with ICEA Asset Management, a subsidiary of the Insurance Company of East Africa, and will invest in a portfolio of properties throughout the East African region, including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, and Mauritius. Rutley hopes to produce a return to investors of at least 20 percent.