Eris: End-to-End Property Development across South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa

While COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on economies worldwide, Eris Property Group, an end-to-end property development and services group operating across South and Sub-Saharan Africa, has managed to keep its portfolio stable and healthy, owing to its position as leader in the market and its stable, long-term partnerships.

Niël Freislich, Head of Developments: Africa at Eris Property Group, asserts that building good relationships with stakeholders, including third-party financiers, is of the utmost importance, especially when it comes to weathering a storm, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and associated protracted lockdown. "When the COVID-19 lockdown hit and developments were halted," says Freislich, "Our ongoing projects' financiers, with whom we had built strong relationships, were very understanding and were willing to relax the repayment terms as necessary for our clients."

Arrangement of finance and liaison with financiers is but one service that forms part of the Eris property development offering. The group offers property development services from start to finish-from analysing site needs, advising on appropriate locations and procuring land, to architectural design, construction contract negotiation and management of construction activities, to capital expenditure management and underwriting. The latter service is a particular value-add that Eris offers to clients, whereby the group underwrites the capital risk of a project, meaning that, if the project exceeds its budget, Eris will cover the shortfall. While Eris's total property development offering can take a project from conception to completion and beyond (including the ongoing management of the development), a modular offering, comprising only a certain specific service or services based on the client's needs, is also entirely possible.

Eris Property Group has a proven record of excellence across Africa, with over 100 development projects in South Africa and 15 projects outside of South Africa, totalling a value in excess of R36.2 billion, since 1993. Eris offers a high level of expertise and dedicated development focus in South Africa (headed up by Johan Ferreira) and Sub-Saharan Africa (led by Niël Freislich).

It is this dedicated, market-specific focus that provides Eris with a good understanding of African markets and a portfolio of large-scale developments across the continent. Freislich says some South African developers looking to expand into Africa have come short through not doing proper due diligence. "That is not the way Eris goes about its developments," he says, "In each and every country in which we operate, we are building relationships with local people, local businesses, local financiers, and local investors, ensuring we understand and mitigate local risks."

Eris's track record of success speaks for itself. Key past developments include The Marc retail, office and medical precinct in Sandton, Gauteng (valued at R3.3 billion), Portside Tower, the tallest Green Building in South Africa, in Cape Town, Western Cape (valued at R2 billion), and Airport Junction Phase 1 in Gaborone, Botswana (valued at R640 million).

Successful recent developments include Units on Park in Pretoria, Gauteng, the group's first student accommodation development, office developments SU Tower and 335 Place in Accra, Ghana, Chuma Mall in Diepsloot, Gauteng, and Mon Trésor Business Gateway in Mauritius. The group's upcoming projects include investigating solar initiatives for Momentum Metropolitan Holdings and substantial student accommodation developments across the country. The group is also proud to be moving to new Eris-developed offices in Sandton at the end of November.

Eris's success is largely attributable to a focus building and maintaining trust with partners throughout the value chain. One such partnership is the Momentum Africa Real Estate Fund (MAREF), a joint venture between sister companies Eris and Momentum Global Investment Management (based in London), which focusses on investment and development in Africa.

"We still have a generous appetite for development in Africa," says Johan Ferreira. "We are one of few developers still committed to investing in Africa." Currently, MAREF, which recently won 'Landlord of the Year' at the 2020 API Awards, holds $355 million still to be invested in African developments.

"We remain fairly positive about the outlook for South Africa and Africa in the long term," says Ferreira. "We acknowledge our challenges, but we remain driven in terms of growing our business and developments."

For more information on Eris's property developments, visit the website: https://www.eris.co.za/property-development/.