South African property giant Equites Property Fund is in the process of exiting its UK operations to focus on its home market in South Africa.
CEO Andrea Taverna-Turisan said this shift comes after nearly a decade of strong performance abroad but with diminishing prospects for future returns.
Equites Property Fund is a South African-based real estate investment trust (REIT) that specialises in developing and acquiring modern, high-quality logistics properties in South Africa and the United Kingdom.
According to the company’s website, Equites Property Fund was listed on the JSE on 18 June 2014 with a portfolio value of R1 billion. Since then, our portfolio has grown, reaching a value of R28.3 billion as at August 2025.
Commenting on the company’s plan to withdraw from the UK, he stressed that the European market has been massively beneficial for the company.
“We’ve really performed well there over the last nine years. The problem is that deploying new capital there just doesn’t give us the returns we’re looking for,” he said.
Taverna-Turisan added that the company’s UK portfolio remains strong thanks to smart financial management.
“We ran a 100% hedging policy on our debt in the UK, so we haven’t been affected by the interest rate cycle. Our assets are still benefiting from the significant rental increases we’ve seen, but that growth cycle is ending,” he said.
He explained that UK rental escalations only happen every five years, unlike South Africa, where they are annual.
“We’re coming to the end of that five-year cycle, and we expect rental growth to be more muted going forward,” he said. Over the past five years, rentals across Equites’ UK portfolio rose by around 42% to 43%.
Equites plans to sell its UK assets and reinvest the proceeds in South Africa. “We’re bringing back about R10 billion, with a 40% loan-to-value. That’s a significant number to deploy locally,” said Taverna-Turisan.
Big plans for South Africa
He said the logistics sector in South Africa remains strong, with huge demand. “Next year is going to be a bumper year for us,” he said.
“We’re winning a lot of RFPs [requests for proposals], but it takes time — from start to finish, including construction, a big warehouse project takes at least two years.”
The company is also doing selective speculative developments, but cautiously. “On the R21 at Riverfields, we’re building about 25,000 square meters,” he said.
“The total cost is around R240 million. You’d need to build ten of those to spend R2.5 billion, but we’re not going to build ten speculative developments at the same time. We do it in a measured way.”
He added that Equites’ balance sheet remains healthy, with a loan-to-value ratio of 37.2%. “We’re in good shape. Deploying capital intelligently in South Africa, with quality tenants and long leases, is where we see the best opportunity.”
Taverna-Turisan added much of Equites’ success comes from hands-on management. He explained that people think fully repairing and maintaining leases means we don’t have to do anything, but that’s not true.
“If you do nothing, your tenants do nothing. We do condition reports twice a year and make sure tenants are maintaining their buildings properly,” he said.
This approach, he noted, helps retain tenants and maintain property quality. “Tenants respect how we manage our properties and the fact that we don’t cut corners,” he said.
Equites also benefits from long-term leases in its logistics portfolio. “Our weighted average lease expiry is 14.1 years,” he said.
“That’s much longer than what you see in retail or office. But to play at this level, building 90,000 to 100,000 square meter facilities for top clients, you need a strong balance sheet and land ownership.”
The company’s land holdings, valued at approximately 47 hectares and worth over R500 million, provide it with the flexibility to move quickly on new developments.