Accra Mall Sold To New Owners back

posted on Thu, 24 May at 05:08

Owners of Accra Mall Actis have sold their majority stake in the shopping Mall to South African commercial and retail property developer, Atterbury, and financial services group, Sanlam.


This is contained in a statement released by the company and copied to Citi Business News.

Actis sold its 85 percent stake in Accra Mall after managing the development process and raised the funds to finance the project working in partnership with renowned Ghanaian entrepreneurs, the Owusu-Akyaw family.

The mall which opened its doors to the public about four years ago now attracts about 135,000 shoppers every week.

Despite the increasing patronage Actis insists it made the right decision by selling its 85 percent stake in the mall. The company’s Director of Real Estate for the Accra Mall Chudi Ejekem explains to Citi Business it was about time the company let go its stake after a good business.

“As a private equity firm, our business module is to invest in companies for five to six years. After such a successful investment in Accra Mall, it is now time to hand over to the new majority owners because we think the Mall has reached the status we wanted it to get to”.

The company would not disclose the exact amount of money it sold its stake for but insists Actis got a good deal.

“We reached a mutually agreeable price for our stake, the construction of the whole mall cost about $36 million dollars to build and the agreeable price we have reached at least allows us to reach the threshold that a private equity company like us need to have”.

Accra Mall is Ghana’s first A-grade shopping and leisure centre, home to international brands such as Shoprite and Game, as well as Ghanaian brands including Kiki Clothing and Nallem.

David Morley, Head of Real Estate at Actis said: “This sale reflects the serious interest of quality institutional investors in sub-Saharan real estate assets.

The development of Accra Mall came at a time when Ghanaians still sourced even basic goods from London and Johannesburg. Now they can buy products locally with pride. We are extremely pleased with what we have achieved here, in partnership with the Owusu-Akyaw family.

Accra Mall’s success gives us great optimism for our upcoming projects in Accra, both our mixed use development in the Airport area, and One Airport Square.”

Alex Bruks of the Owusu-Akyaw family said: “My brother, the late Joseph Owusu-Akyaw, shared a vision with Actis: to create a focal point where Ghanaians could come to socialise, shop and relax, and to bring a new standard of retail to Ghana. It has been a rewarding journey and this mall stands as testament to our joint ambition and hard work. We are excited about this next chapter in the mall’s history.”

Actis is sub-Saharan Africa’s most experienced private equity real estate investor. Since 2004, Actis has developed ten institutional quality assets in seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa including other A-grade retail malls: Ikeja City Mall and The Palms in Lagos, and The Junction in Nairobi. Actis intends to initiate and develop real estate projects worth half a billion US dollars in sub-Saharan Africa over the next three years.**

Source: Citifmonline.com.