Pension fund schemes, equity fund managers crucial to real estate portfolio growth – Kisseih Antonio

In an effort to provide sustainable building solutions in Africa and mitigate risks towards a strong real estate portfolio for investors, Kisseih Antonio, the Chief Executive Officer of Sentinel Asset Management, has emphasised the importance of pension fund schemes and equity fund managers.

Kisseih believes that building a diversified real estate portfolio is crucial to offering the continent strategic alternative assets for savvy investors, thereby creating long-term value.

He stated that Africa has great potential to utilise its real estate landscape to provide solutions while offering an inflation hedge.

He cited the One Airport Square (OAS) building in the Airport City enclave in Ghana as a prime example of this drive.

"We look forward to leveraging the OAS transaction to build a real estate portfolio that provides investors with an alternative asset class to offer an inflation hedge and help mitigate the overall risk of their respective portfolios."

"We are honored and humbled to have been recognised by players in the African real estate space and commend the role of pension fund schemes and managers who provided the equity funding for the OAS acquisition. We are also happy to have jointly won the award with Nedbank, whose commitment to meeting our needs helped us close this groundbreaking transaction."

Kisseih Antonio made this known when his outfit was recognised as the 'Best Transaction of the Year' at the recently ended 15th Africa Property Investment (API) Summit held in Cape Town, South Africa.

The recognition at the summit was jointly shared by Sentinel and Nedbank Property Finance Africa, who provided the debt component for the acquisition in the form of a term loan facility and a short-term bridge facility.

The API Summit, held annually, is the leading event and thought leadership platform in African real estate. The peer-to-peer initiative was established to recognise and promote excellence in Africa's rising real estate sector.

They aimed to honor developers, professional teams, consultants, suppliers, and property owners involved in the African real estate industry who have become a critical benchmark for measuring success in the industry.