Louis van der Watt, who founded Atterbury about 12 years ago, tied up with Louis Norval to launch Attfund in 2002.
It holds properties that have been developed over a decade, with a portfolio size of R6bn. It has established itself as SA's most successful property developer in a short time. As the SA commercial property market has started to recover, only comfort and laziness could get in the way of Atterbury becoming one of the biggest property developers in SA history.
The biggest holding is Clearwater Mall on Johannesburg's West Rand, one of the largest and most modern retail centres in SA. Most of the properties are in Gauteng and 91% are retail. The quality of the 13 properties would make it one of the bluest-chip counters in the property sector if it listed.
Listing is an option; Attfund has build up a 23% holding in Sycom, the blue-chip property unit trust and its management company Parkdev has bought Sycom's management company. But tax issues and the trend to private equity may prevent a merger with Sycom.
Attfund is probably SA's most traded unlisted fund, with 16% of the shares in issue traded.
If you can get your hands on a share - at R82,51 at the time of going to press - that would make a good addition to your portfolio. But most shares that become available are grabbed by Atterbury directors and staff. (See table for contact details).
Atterbury launched a second fund, Attacq, last year. It holds properties it develops that don't qualify for the blue-chip status Atterbury requires. It is also being managed by Parkdev and therefore has the same contact details as Atterbury.
