By 
The Revitus Property Opportunities Real Investments Trust [ REIT] has become the second on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) following its official listing yesterday.
The REIT is managed and administered by CBZ Asset Management unit Datvest, while Stanbic Bank comes in as a trustee to oversee the interests of investors.
Finance, Economic Development, and Investment Promotion Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube said; “The Government would continue to support such investment product innovations that help grow the country’s capital markets and mobilisation of savings.
The Government allowed for the setting up of REITs in the country with the primary motivation to allow pension funds that were overexposed to the real estate asset class to use those properties to access liquidity from the capital markets and be in a position to pay member benefits timeously. In my 2020 budget statement, I specifically excluded pension funds from the requirement that buildings that have to be part of a REIT should only be new, taking cognisance that most pension funds were already sitting on vast buildings in need of a revamp. I also exempted pension funds from other restrictions, such as shareholder spread limits, in my 2022 budget,” he said.
Minister Ncube said.
“Real estate was generally considered a key part of any diversified portfolio because of its inflation-hedging characteristics, but the limitation for most pension funds investing in this asset class has always been a lack of divisibility when one wants to invest and a lack of liquidity if one wishes to exit. REITs solve both problems and, in the process, allow the wider investing public to acquire a portion of the real estate and enjoy the benefits accruing from them,” he noted.
He further said that the Revitus REIT was the first REIT to be licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe and also the first to be promoted by a pension fund to list, and this followed the introduction of legislative changes and tax incentives allowing for the establishment of REITs in the country.
NRZ Contributory Pension Fund board chairperson, Mr Takunda Madanha, said, “REIT will revive construction activity in city centres as part of the urban renewal concept. This will boost confidence in the economy, and the REITs are a secure way for diasporas to invest in property”.
The Revitus REIT raised $48,551 billion through an initial public offering (IPO), which opened on November 15, 2023, and closed on December 14, 2023. The REIT will start trading on the ZSE on Wednesday, December 20, 2023.
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