Discovery gets Competition Tribunal green light for Sandton head office acquisition

The Competition Tribunal has unconditionally approved a transaction that will see Discovery acquire its head office building in Sandton, dubbed Discovery Place, from JSE-listed Growthpoint Properties and Zenprop.

The deal involves Discovery Propco – a newly established, wholly owned subsidiary of Discovery Ltd – acquiring sections 2 and 3 of the sectional title scheme from Growthpoint Properties and the Truzen 114 Trust (effectively owned by Zenprop).

Read:
Discovery buys head office from Growthpoint, Zenprop for R4bn
Adrian Gore: Building a bank is harder than you think

ADVERTISEMENT

CONTINUE READING BELOW

At the same time, Growthpoint will acquire Section 1 of the building from the same trust.

Discovery Place comprises three interconnected office towers with conference, wellness and limited retail facilities. Discovery Central Services, part of the group, is already a tenant in the building.

The approval follows an announcement in February that Discovery would purchase its head office for about R4.05 billion, as it reassesses its long-term lease arrangements.

The group had signed a 15-year lease in 2018 after consolidating its operations into the building, but indicated it would likely remain in the space beyond the lease period.

The shift to ownership is expected to reduce costs over time, with Discovery previously noting that changing from a lease to a commercial mortgage structure would result in lower overall expenditure.

The Tribunal found no competition concerns arising from the transaction and approved it without conditions.

Read:

Big HealthyFood changes ahead at Discovery Vitality

#Discovery #Competition #Tribunal #green #light #Sandton #office #acquisition