Mara Delta (formerly Delta Africa) recently announced its acquisition of a 50%-interest in a new A-grade Zambian retail property from Rockcastle Global Real Estate Company.

“This is our third investment in dominant retail assets in Zambia with the same strong in-country partner at an attractive purchase yield attributable to shareholders of 10,4%.

“Cosmopolitan Mall met our investment requirements for long dollar-based anchor leases and strong counter parties. This early-stage mall is dominant in its region and current trading densities are very encouraging.

“We are also very excited to announce a new funding facility from Bank of China, which will be used to part-fund the Cosmopolitan Mall acquisition and to settle more expensive debt relating to our other Zambian retail assets,” Bronwyn Corbett, CEO, says.

Cosmopolitan Mall, located in Lusaka, Zambia, comprises 25 900m² of gross lettable area with 1 300 parking bays and is anchored by major multinational tenants including Shoprite (10% of rentals), Game (13% of rentals), as well as The Foschini Group (6% of rentals) with dollar-underpinned leases. Other major tenants include Pep, Jet, OK Furniture, Woolworths, Ackermans, Truworths, Max Clothing, Carnival Furnishers, Edgars and Mr Price.

The anchor lease term is for a period of 10 years, expiring in 2026. There are zero vacancies in the shopping centre.

It is anticipated that the acquisition will be implemented on or about 30 September 2016.