Our Purpose
SAREIT promotes South African REITs as an investment class both locally and internationally while addressing issues and meeting challenges within the sector.
The SA REIT Association (SAREIT) was founded in 2013, following the introduction of the REIT structure in South Africa to represent the interest of the SA listed property sector. The Association is modelled on NAREIT (National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts) in the United States and EPRA (European Public Real Estate Association) in Europe.
We are a representative umbrella body incorporating voluntary members of all local REITs and lead by an elected executive team focused on promoting the sector as an attractive asset class.
SAREIT’s key objectives are to:
Engage across industry
Ensure constant engagement with legislators, regulators, other business associations, investors
and other stakeholders to establish a stable, conducive policy and business environment.
Strengthen relationships with investors
Build relationships with investors and capital providers to deeper understanding of relevant issues.
The Association’s Executive Team and Committee Members include experienced and knowledgeable individuals to fulfill the various committees’ mandates.
The elected Executive Team is responsible for the planning and execution of the Association’s strategic objectives.
Chairman of the Accounting
& JSE Committee
Redefine Properties
Chief Operating Officer
Chairperson of the Regulation
& Taxation Committee
Growthpoint Properties
Group Financial Director
Chairperson of the Legal & Competition
Commission Committee
Redefine Properties
Chief Legal Officer
Chairperson of the Transformation Committee
Growthpoint Properties
Head: Transformation & CSR
Chairperson of the Research Committee
Vukile Property Fund
Managing Director: Southern Africa
Chairperson of the Conference Committee
Emira Property Fund
Chief Executive Officer
Get In touch with SAREIT
The role of the accounting & JSE committee is to develop and maintain a set of best practice recommendations to help property companies produce best-in-class annual financial and non-financial performance reports in order to provide investors with consistent and reliable disclosures in line with the JSE regulations.
The Regulation & Taxation Committee aims to give the sector a voice in the regulatory processes for REITs, property companies and investors.
Chairperson of the Regulation & Taxation Committee
Growthpoint Properties
Group Financial Director
The Legal & Competition Commission Committee deals with REIT specific legislations and competition related matters. The Committee also works closely with other industry bodies to align on related issues.
The Transformation Committee supports the implementation of the principles upon which Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) is implemented in the sector.
Chairperson of the Transformation Committee
Growthpoint Properties
Head: Transformation & CSR
Vice-Chairperson: Transformation Committee
Attacq Ltd
Human Capital & Transformation Manager
The Research Committee generates and provides access to high quality, independent research related to the listed property sector, in South Africa and other relevant markets. It aims to provide a trusted research hub for members and the industry at large.
Chairperson of the Research Committee
Vukile Property Fund
Managing Director: Southern Africa
Get In touch with SAREIT
The Investor Committee aims to strengthen the Association’s relationships and increase engagement with institutional investors. In addition, the committee acts as a catalyst that enables a deeper understanding of relevant sector issues while collectively contributing to the market’s overall perception of the asset class.
The SA REIT Association (SAREIT) is a representative umbrella body for South African REITs focused on promoting the sector as an attractive asset class locally and internationally.
Burstone Group and Irongate Australia announce first JV acquisition #SAREIT #bonds #REIT #Property #jse #BurstoneGroup
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Leon was appointed as financial director and to the board in October 2014 and elected as chief operating officer in February 2021. He is responsible for all aspects of the asset and property management of the business, which includes the general administration of the property portfolio.
Leon Kok is a Chartered Accountant (SA) with an excellent blend of operational experience, sound business acumen and technical accounting knowledge. He joined Redefine in 2014 after a 13-year career at Peermont Global Limited. Prior to this, Leon completed his articles. He remained with KPMG until 2000, after which he moved to Brait SA as Group Financial Manager and then to Emperors Palace as Chief Financial Officer until 2006.
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Andrew Wooler is the Chief Executive Officer of Burnstone Group.
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Jodie Ellinor-Dreyer is the Head: CSI & Transformation at Fortress Real Estate Investments Ltd.
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Human Capital and Transformation Manager
Danny Vermeulen is the Human Capital and Transformation Manager at Attacq Ltd.
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Lesley Baerveldt is the Head of Finance at Redefine Properties Ltd.
Laila Razack has a Bsc (Finance and Accounting), PGDA and a qualified chartered accountant. She joined Equites in 2015 and has played an integral role in improving internal processes within the group as well as growing the scale and sophistication of the overall finance function.
Prior to joining Equites, she worked in PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc.’s Advisory division with a focus on mergers & acquisitions. She has a keen interest for environmental, social and sustainable initiatives and serves as a director of The Michel Lanfranchi Foundation (NPC).
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Farhana Haffejee is the Head of Legal at Liberty Two Degrees.
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Samantha Jardine is the Head of Legal at Growthpoint Properties.
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Gareth is currently the Finance Executive at Liberty Two Degrees, where he is responsible for the finance function, treasury and investor relations. He has been with Liberty Two Degrees since it listed in December 2016 and was part of the team that worked on the initial listing.
He is a CA(SA) and completed his articles at Deloitte, during which time he was appointed as a Partner in the Financial Institutions Services Team. Since departing Deloitte in 2008, he has gained broad experience in the financial services sector and has completed the MBA at Gordon Institute of Business Science. In addition, he attended the SAPOA PDP course in 2019 and currently serves as a member of the SAPOA Audit and Risk Committee.
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Gerald Völkel is a Chartered Accountant with over 25 years’ experience. Prior to being appointed Financial Director and Executive Director of Growthpoint Properties in 2013, he spent 12 years at JD Group Limited where he worked as Group Financial Director and later as Chief Financial Officer.
Gerald began his career in the auditing industry, where he was an Audit Partner of Ernst & Young for four years.
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Desirée Nafte joined Hyprop in 2011, and before that, she was a practising attorney.
Nafte entered the commercial property industry in 2001 as a Legal Advisor, specialising in property law as well as landlord and tenant law.
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Estienne de Klerk is a qualified Chartered Accountant with 25 years’ experience in the listed property sector. During the 25 years, he has been involved in various corporate action such as take-overs, mergers and acquisitions, transformation deals and capital raises. De Klerk started his career at Eskom Durban Distribution in a marketing role. In 2002, he joined the Investec Property Group’s property fund management business where he was appointed Fund Manager and Executive Director of Metboard. Later on, he became Executive Director and Group Managing Director of Growthpoint before being appointed Chief Executive Officer (SA). Estienne is Chairman of the SA REIT Association and a longstanding member where he served as Chairman of the Taxation and Regulatory Committee since SAREIT’s inception. He is a former President of the South African Property Owners Association (SAPOA) and represented the industry in the Property Sector Charter negotiations.
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Joanne Solomon holds a BCom in Economics and is a seasoned marketer with 22 years’ experience. She has an established history in the financial services industry, working in one of the largest financial institutions in South Africa. The financial services industry allowed her to diversify her skills at an executive level in commercial property finance and in corporate investment banking. Joanne started her career as the Regional Marketing Manager in the Nedbank property finance division in 1998. She then grew from strength to strength until she served her final position, as Head of Brand and Client Insights at the Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking division in 2019.
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Tracy Wolf is the Chief Legal Officer for Redefine Properties.
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Itumeleng Mothibeli is the Managing Director: Southern Africa of the Vukile Property Fund.
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He has a proven track record of being a part of legal teams advising some of the largest commercial and residential property developers and REITs in South Africa over the last few years.
Jacques’ work in the field of law consists of all aspects of real estate work, including conveyancing, property finance, commercial property developments, renewable energy project developments (infrastructure and development), sectional title schemes, retirement villages, mergers and acquisitions.
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Before joining Attacq, Pierre spent seven years with First National Bank as a Dealmaker in New Business Acquisitions and Commercial Property Finance in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to originating new commercial property finance business, he assisted the FNB African subsidiaries in designing solutions for clients, obtaining approval from the relevant credit committees, and drafting and implementing their commercial property finance risk management policies.
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Johan advises the REIT sector, and his experience includes advising some of the largest commercial property developments and mergers in the REIT sector in South Africa over the last few years.
With more than 30 years of extensive experience as a commercial attorney in the real estate sector, he acts for numerous clients in South Africa. His work in this area consists of all aspects of real estate work, including conveyancing and notarial work, commercial property developments, sectional title schemes, registration of leases, servitudes and mortgage and notarial bonds for lenders in renewable energy projects, property legal, due diligence investigations and clients in the mining and manufacturing industries.
Within competition law, Johan works with clients from a broad range of sectors. He prepares merger notifications to the South African competition authorities, including in the steel, manufacturing, property management services and REIT sectors; provides compliance advice and training to clients; and provides opinions on competition law considerations in the consumer goods, agricultural services and aviation sectors.
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Janke’s experience includes advising on complex commercial real estate transactions and corporate and commercial advice concerning sectional title developments, large intra-group restructures, the sale of commercial letting enterprises and real security transactions. These include, amongst other things, the registration of mortgage bonds, notarial bonds, ship and aircraft mortgages and the cancellation and cession of these bonds.
She has broad experience in commercial real estate transactions and corporate law, including drafting sale agreements, co-ownership agreements, shareholder agreements, bespoke MOIs and commercial lease agreements.
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Conor has also been involved in setting up a number of public benefit organisations (charities) and obtaining tax exempt status for such organizations from the Tax Exemption Unit.
Conor currently serves as Chairperson of the Tax Board in South Africa, Gauteng division, a five year appointment.
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He advises on M&A transactions, general corporate law, infrastructure projects, joint ventures, partnerships, private equity, corporate restructuring, due diligence, commercial law and real estate transactions. In addition, he acts for sponsors, funders and investors in the energy and infrastructure space.
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Nick Hanekom is a qualified chartered accountant and completed his articles with PwC in Johannesburg where after he joined PwC London. On his return to South Africa in August 2005 he was employed by Resilient, initially as company secretary and in May 2011 he became Financial Director of Resilient. Prior to joining Resilient, Nick was Financial Director of Fortress.
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Brett Till is a chartered accountant with extensive experience in corporate finance, due diligence work, financial management and reporting, corporate governance, company and commercial law and taxation and exchange control compliance.
He started his career at Fisher Hoffman Stride in Johannesburg, before joining Rebhold Limited in 1998 as a Financial Executive. He was then appointed as the Group Chief Financial Officer in 1999, a position he held until 2007. Brett joined Mentor Africa Limited, a private investment company, in 2007, as the Chief Financial Officer, where he had various financial and corporate finance responsibilities.
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Ian Vorster completed articles at PKF Johannesburg Inc and qualified as a chartered accountant in 2006. In 2007 he joined the PKF Corporate Division, where he was appointed a partner in 2009. Following the PKF and Grant Thornton Johannesburg merger in 2015 Ian was appointed the Head of the Grant Thornton Corporate Finance Division.
Vorster has extensive experience in due diligence investigations, valuations, fairness opinions – in terms of the Companies Act and the JSE – and Reporting Accountants’ work in respect of companies listed on the JSE.
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