At a briefing in March, one analyst asked Simbisa CEO Baldwin Guchu if Zimbabwe’s biggest fried chicken company was crossing the road into property.
Simbisa has been expanding rapidly, opening 48 new spots since March last year to reach 325 outlets by March this year. Another 27 were planned by June. This growth – US$54 million in capital expenditure in the last two years – has meant buying, building and maintaining properties on prime sites.
Guchu’s response? Simbisa would always snap up good locations wherever they find them, he said. In future, he suggested, Simbisa would look at any strategies that unlock value from the properties, use the funds for expansion, and allow Simbisa to focus on what it does best – frying chicken.
Sure enough, a new property investment fund is about to hit the market, backed by Simbisa. The Pfuma Fund, with a starting portfolio of US$28.5 million, plans to list a real estate investment trust (REIT) on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange. It will raise US$15 million by selling 150 million units at 10 cents each to investors. The money will be used to build a new complex in Ruwa for US$12.6 million and an Eastlea drive-through on ED Mnangagwa Road (former Enterprise) for US$1 million. Pfuma’s five-year plan includes more sites in Kuwadzana, Marondera and the Mbudzi area, targeting to build a portfolio value of US$50 million.
The Ruwa complex, on 6 hectares, will be along the Harare-Mutare road. Its 18,000 square meters of lettable area will include a hardware store, Simbisa’s fast-food brands, a fuel station, a supermarket, and other retailers.
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The Pfuma Fund estimates it will make annual rentals of US$2.2 million. It includes the newly opened Hogerty Hill Centre, valued at US$18.5 million and expected to make US$112,000 in monthly rentals. Pfuma will also include Cork Corner, which Simbisa opened early this year. Cork Corner is valued at US$7 million, has 1,203 square metres at US$37 per square metre, and grosses an estimated US$45,000 in monthly rentals. Also in the portfolio is the US$3 million Chegutu project, which houses a fuel station and Gain Cash & Carry, the wholesaler that Innscor-linked Sub-Sahara Capital Group bought from Metro Peech last November.
Pfuma says its strategy is “investing in developments on key arterial roads, ensuring access to high-growth areas aligning with the trajectory of development in Zimbabwe. It joins a growing number of REITs on the market, pioneered in Zimbabwe by the Tigere Fund, which listed on the ZSE in 2022. A REIT allows a company to pool investor funds into real estate investments. Investors buy units in the trust and share profits from the investments.
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