Michael is a practising attorney and director of STBB. He heads STBB’s Corporate and Commercial Department and their Hospitality and Leisure Sector. Michael has over 35 years’ experience specialising in commercial law transactions and more particularly in the hospitality and leisure sector. Key focus areas of his expertise include: - mergers, acquisitions, property transactions, development of substantial capital-intensive facilities such as convention centers, casinos, lodges and hotels; and - establishment of special purpose vehicles, shareholder relationships, financing, land tenure issues, structuring sectional title schemes, advising on relationships with stakeholders during the development and operational phases, with particular emphasis on hotel management, franchise and lease agreements. Michael has an intimate knowledge of most of the international hotel management companies standard form agreements. Michael’s vast experience in these fields, particularly Hospitality and Leisure, is owed to his career as a practising corporate lawyer and as a member of the boards of directors of hotel owning companies including Lagoon Beach Hotel Groups.

Thought of the Week | Offshore Property and South African REITs

The South African listed property sector has exposure in more than 25 countries. 45% of the FTSE/JSE SAPY Index earnings come from outside South Africa and over 50% of listed property in SA is exposed to offshore markets.

To date, no SA real estate investment trust (REIT) has achieved true global exposure i.e.: being invested in all the major global markets in the world. Some REITs do, however, have large representative businesses in specific markets, for example, NEPI Rockcastle is the largest real estate firm in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and Growthpoint Properties Australia is the 11th largest REIT on the ASX.

Our REIT sector had a poor showing in terms of overall performance in the first quarter of 2018. According SBG Securities, global monetary policy shifts in developed markets sparked a broad sell-off in emerging markets.

For more information on the above, please contact STBB.

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