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British agencies
set up properties in Africa
The Africa you don’t see on T.V.-Accra Ghana |
A new venture company, set up by the UK government's developing countries investment wing, Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC), is targeting suitable properties in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Ghana for foreign investors. Actis Africa Real Estate Fund has been established to allow property experts, and western investors to target Africa for potential property bargains.
The boom in property in the West has seen house prices grow by double digit figures annually over the past 10 years, but experts say that these figures are no longer sustainable.
Instead, property investors are looking towards Africa for investments and the new Actis
Fund is an acknowledgement of this new type of focus.
Based in South Africa, Actis will invest originally in Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Ghana and
Tanzania with around $50 million worth of properties. The investment is based on the expectation that these
properties will rise in value as the economies of all these African countries improve.
Rod Evison, CDC's portfolio director, said that the new Fund is aimed at laying the groundwork for future investments and a further $50 million is said to be available for further expansion. The Actis Fund will be headed by Mike Williams, the former head of Africa Property at Standard Bank Properties.
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