Construction World November 2015

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LISTING ON THE JSE Balwin Properties Limited, South Africa’s largest homebuilder focusing on large scale sectional-title residential estates in high-growth, high-density metropolitan nodes in South Africa’s major cities, recently announced its intention to list on the main board of the JSE Limited subject to requisite approvals. units, the bulk of which were delivered since large scale operations began in 2005. Balwin controls and manages the entire development process, from land identification, acquisition and zoning to pre-sales and marketing, construction and construction management, sourcing of materials and fittings, safety and quality assurance, and the final handover to homebuyers. Stephen Brookes, chief executive officer and founder of Balwin said: “Our listing is an exciting and important next phase in the evolution of Balwin. Listing on the JSE will grant us access to the capital markets and enhance our profile. It will also support our strong development pipeline and geographical expansion. “Our developments appeal to a cross-section of buyers offering secure, high-quality spacious and environmentally friendly one, two and three bedroom residential apartments conveniently located in key nodes with on-site lifestyle amenities including restaurants, a club-house, sport and entertainment facilities. “Balwin offers an investment opportunity with excellent growth prospects backed by a significant pipeline and land-bank, leading market position, strong cash generating ability and the scalability to mitigate macro-eco- nomic impacts, including an exciting strategic initiative to develop, retain and manage a portion of future developments as a rental portfolio, growing to around 2 000 to 3 000 units by 2020,” Brookes added. > CEO OF THE YEAR Sika has won the award for best CEO of the year beating competition from the largest listed companies in Switzerland. The ranking is compiled by Obermatt, a Swiss financial research firm focused on indexing company performance. Since establishment in 1996, Balwin has successfully developed, marketed and sold over 70 prominent residential estates comprising some 13 500 residential

The high market demand for quality housing in the target price range is supported by robust structural market fundamentals. This, combined with excellent project management capabilities, will see Balwin sell over 1 600 units this year and deliver an after tax profit of around R550-million for the financial year to 29 February 2016 (excluding once-off listing costs). “The demand for new smaller-sized, higher density apartments and townhouses remains robust, accounting for more than 70% of new housing built in South Africa over the past 20 years. This trend is in line with similar emerging economies and is driven by factors such as urbanisation, growing population and growing middle class, land scarcity, building costs, housing affordability, property costs such as rates, taxes and levies, safety concerns with stand alone housing, as well as lifestyle changes, especially in the metropolitan areas of the country,” Brookes concluded. Balwin has a secured project pipeline of approximately eight years which, together with continually identified land acquisitions is expected to drive future growth. The company is also currently negotiating the acquisition of an additional land parcel in the Kyalami node, on which a further ±15 000 sectional-title residential units may be developed. Balwin is currently owned 70% by management and 30% by its private equity partner, Buffet Investments. Investec Bank has been appointed as book runner in relation to the proposed listing.

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NEW ACQUISITION Otis, part of Otis Elevator, the world’s largest manufacturer and maintainer of people-moving products, including elevators, escalators and moving walkways, announced recently the acquisition of the local service business of ThyssenKrupp Elevator (South Africa). The transaction will give customers access to Otis expertise in service and maintenance and expand Otis’ capabilities in the region. Otis is a part of UTC Building & Industrial Systems, a unit of United Tech- nologies Corporation. “This acquisition will increase our operational foot- print, connecting us with new customers and increasing the number of units we maintain and repair,” said Segren Reddy, managing director, Otis Southern Africa. “We believe this acquisition will result in great benefits for our new and existing customers, including the opportunity to discuss Otis solutions for new equipment and modernisation products in building rejuvenation projects in South Africa.” Employees currently working for ThysssenKrupp will be incorporated into Otis business units. Terms of the transac- tion will not be disclosed. >

The top ranking of Sika is based on its strong results of the past three years – the best ever in Sika’s history. Sika outper- formed companies such as Geberit, Lindt & Sprüngli, Barry Callebaut and Givaudan while others such as Roche, Nestlé or Novartis did not reach the top ten ranking. Sika CEO Jan Jenisch acknowledges Sika’s global employees as follows: “Friends, this award goes to all of you and we would like to congratulate you for making Sika one of the most successful companies. You consequently imple- mented Sika’s STRATEGY 2018 and made our GROWTHMODELwork. Wewould like to thank you for your passion and huge efforts which make Sika such a successful company. Please extend our compliments to your teams and employees who all contributed to this success.”

The Obermatt CEO of the Year rankings measure a company’s performance against that of its

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competitors. The performance metrics that are monitored are: sales growth, operating performance (EBITDA) and total shareholder return.

Sika CEO, Jan Jenisch.

CONSTRUCTION WORLD NOVEMBER 2015