Growthpoint Investec African Properties Limited (GIAP) has a new name: Lango Real Estate Limited (Lango). Lango, meaning ‘entry point’ or ‘gateway’ in Swahili reflects Lango’s strategy to become an entry point for sophisticated investor capital to flow into the real estate sector in Africa, and to invest in the key ‘gateway’ cities on which Lango focuses.
Launched in 2018, Lango has built a quality portfolio of commercial real estate assets to attain meaningful scale and relevance in the sector, emerging as a leader in the African commercial real estate market.
Lango owns and manages a quality portfolio of income-producing real estate assets, including several prime office and retail properties in Ghana, Nigeria and Zambia, with an aggregate value in excess of US$600 million. Lango’s strategy focuses on investing into prime income-producing commercial properties with top-tier tenants in key capital city locations with the aim of generating compelling and sustainable investor returns.
Lango was originally jointly established by South Africa’s largest primary JSE-listed REIT, Growthpoint Properties Limited, and LSE- and JSE-listed global investment manager Ninety One (previously Investec Asset Management). Growthpoint also has a 16% shareholding in Lango, alongside other notable South African and international institutional investors.
Thomas Reilly, Managing Director of Lango, says the renaming and rebranding process marks an important point in Lango’s evolution, well ahead of a planned IPO process which is targeted to take place in the next few years. This allows time to build and entrench the brand for the business in the interim.
“Lango has built a robust platform over the past few years, and whilst nothing changes in terms of the current operational and strategic support Lango receives from both Growthpoint and Ninety One, the rebranding does allow for the creation of a new and exciting identity for the business. We look forward to our future interaction with our peers and stakeholders as Lango,” says Reilly.
Lango has an established track record in concluding successful and accretive transactions, having deployed its total equity raised to date, and achieved further significant growth. A focused and considered strategy has ensured a robust performance for Lango throughout the pandemic, and it paid its maiden distribution to shareholders towards the latter part of 2020 for the interim period to 30 September 2020. Particular focus has also been placed on the efficiency of its capital structure, with a number of initiatives undertaken to enhance the operational efficiency and returns of the business.
Reilly adds, “We believe the growth and scale that Lango has achieved to date enhances its ability to further entrench and capitalise on its position as a dominant player in the African real estate market and furthermore facilitates the opportunity for considerable future growth.”
