Sirius Real Estate, the owner and operator of business parks, offices and mixed-use workspaces in Germany and the UK, is celebrating a decade of successful listing on the JSE, and is eyeing further growth and acquisitions.  

At a commemoration of Sirius’ decade on the JSE, held at the exchange’s premises in Sandton, Johannesburg, on January 23, JSE organisation and deals head Sam Mokorosi said Sirius had been the first inward listed company to use the fast-track listing mechanism to ensure a secondary listing on the JSE.

He highlighted that Sirius had grown its market capitalisation from close to R4-billion to over R25-billion in the past decade.

Moreover, Mokorosi said that, over the past decade, the exchange had also welcomed 43 inward listed companies, collectively raising over R228-billion on JSE, with 19 of these listed through the fast-track listing process.

PSG Capital is the company’s sponsor in South Africa.

PSG Capital MD Johan Holtzhausen lauded the work of the JSE in streamlining processes for listing.

Sirius was the first fast-track listing of a London-listed company onto the JSE, listing on the AltX of the exchange on December 5, 2014, at R6 at a share.

It raised £32-million, placing over 100-million shares on the JSE, and used these funds and bank debt to buy the Mahlsdorf business park in Berlin and a second one in Potsdam, Sirius CEO Andrew Coombs explained.

Ownership of these assets for a decade has seen over €70-million of value created, he highlighted.

Moreover, since its listing on the JSE, Sirius has achieved a total yearly return of 17.8% in rand terms, as well as 22 consecutive dividend payouts, including of 58.85c a share on January 23 for the first half of the current financial year.

Coombs averred that Sirius’ differentiated business model of having one-third of headroom in its dividends policy provides a competitive advantage over other real-estate investment trusts, and enabled the company to continue to pay out dividends even during the Covid-19 period.

Sirius achieved continued growth during the pandemic years, in its share price and funds from operations, CIO Tariq Khader said.

On the back of this, the company acquired BizSpace in November 2021. This was funded through a £137-million capital raise (15% from South African investors) and a corporate bond, and it provided an opening into a secondary market in the UK.

Following that acquisition, the company increased its rent roll and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, Khader highlighted.  

He said the company was able to leverage the learnings from its early years, into the UK and develop a second platform in a market which had favourable supply and demand conditions, with the UK market having a shrinking supply of industrial property and increasing demand post-Brexit.

Coombs said the company last week raised €350-million in a senior unsecured corporate bond issue, which was about five times oversubscribed.

The proceeds would be used to refinance existing debt including part of the €400-million bond repayable in June 2026, as well as for acquisitions in Germany and the UK.

The company also has over €150-million of balance sheet headroom.

Coombs said that Sirius would start the rollout of €114.4-million of acquisitions in the next two weeks or so, targeting two sites in the UK and two in Germany. This followed the near-term finance risk of the €400-million bond being taken out, and would come after further clarity was provided from newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump on his plans and policies.

Coombs said that while no negative impact is anticipated on the company’s markets in this regard, Sirius would be able to offer more assurance in about the next ten days.