SA Corporate Real Estate to get R558m for riots

SA Corporate Real Estate, which owns retail, residential and industrial properties, says state insurer SA Special Risks Insurance Association (Sasria) has accepted its initial R558.2m claim for riot damage.

The settlement is equal to about half of the net property income generated in its year to end-December, when it had 188 properties worth R16bn.

The group owns a diversified portfolio of industrial, retail, commercial and residential buildings primarily in the major metropolitan areas of SA, with a secondary node in Zambia.

Sasria is grappling with huge unrest claims in the wake of violence and looting that hit Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal in July.

It told parliament earlier in September that it may need an R11.3bn capital injection from the state if the value of claims submitted reached R25bn.

Sasria provides cover for strikes and riots, and said it only had two claims above R500m.

Claims of about R22bn have been reported so far. Sasria has assets of about R10bn and will get about R7bn from reinsurers, with the Treasury already committing R3.9bn.

SA Corporate Real Estate expects distributable income per share of R344.5m for its six months to end-June, up 10.7% year on year, and to pay out 75% to shareholders. It held on to its distribution in the first half of 2020. The 2021 interim payout amounts to 10.27c per share.

In morning trade, SA Corporate’s shares were trading 1.86% higher at R2.19, having risen more than a quarter so far in 2021, but having fallen more than 28% since the start of 2020.