CEO Louis van der Watt shares the background that led to the recently signed partnership deal with Rand Merchant Holdings, which saw the leading investment group acquire a 27.5% share in Atterbury.
It is a feather in Atterbury’s cap to attract investment interest from such an esteemed entity. What motivated the decision to sell such a significant shareholding?
Henk Deist, who worked at RMB before, was appointed as CFO of Atterbury Europe in 2014. Because of his history he knew that RMBH was interested in diversifying into property investments, so he facilitated a meeting with the CEO, Herman Bosman. We immediately connected and saw the synergies between our two businesses.
At what point in Atterbury’s history did you start considering the sale of shares – how long ago did it first become something you pondered?
It wasn’t something that we ever considered before. But the transaction on the table just made sense – a combination of an equity investment in Atterbury as well as the funding facility via RMB.
RMH has called this the first step in a strategy to invest in entrepreneur-led property businesses. As the entrepreneur, what are the benefits you foresee for Atterbury in the medium to longer term, resulting from parting with a significant share of the company you’ve built up over 22 years?
Firstly we get access to a greater network, and secondly, RMB allows access to funding, which means that jointly we can tackle really big projects. And also, the RMB association forms a really great combination with Atterbury’s development and asset management expertise.
And aside from the current transaction, in a blue-sky scenario, what other types of industries or companies would you consider extending a significant shareholding offer to in future?
We’re not looking for other shareholding transactions within the company. Atterbury would rather look at development and investment opportunities outside South African borders. It would make sense for Atterbury to get involved in joint developments with potential partners – for instance people who own land or portfolios elsewhere in the world from which we can jointly benefit.
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