Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa March 2014 | Page 11

UPFRONT

F

rom a very young age, Estienne De Klerk,
Executive Director and Chief Operations
Off icer of Grow thpoint Properties
Limited, had a passion for buildings and
property which seemed to have followed him
through the years.
Growing up, De K lerk attended
Höerskool Suid-Natal in the small town
of Port Shepstone, KwaZulu-Natal. Upon
completing his schooling, he spent a year
in Australia as part of a student exchange
prog ra mme, a f ter wh ic h he st ud ied at
University of Johannesburg.
His illustrious career started when he worked
at the marketing department of Eskom Durban
Distribution and in 1995, he went on to become
a private banker with Investec Private Bank.
According to him, working at Investec is
where a lot of the core business that he had been
involved in at the company with investors and
property developers, helped him understand
the finance side of property development and
which inevitably contributed to establishing
Growthpoint and Metboard Properties.
Today, De Klerk is well known in the listed
property industry - not surprising as he has 18
years of experience in both the banking and
listed property sector at his disposal, which has
held him in great stead. The evidence of this lies
in the fact that he has been greatly influential
in a multitude of deals relating to takeovers,
mergers and acquisitions, Black Economic
Empowerment deals as well as capital raisings
over the years.
Under the leadership of Grow thpoint
Prop er t ie s , f r iend a nd pa r t ner, CEO
Norbert Sasse and De Klerk, internalised
its management in 2007 and the company
continued to grow to become the largest listed
property company in South Africa and the only
listed property company included on the JSE
ALSI40 Index.
Growthpoint is as a serious contender in the
arena and according to De Klerk, in terms of how
the company operates, leans strongly towards an
owner, manager and developer focus.
With property assets valued at R55.7 billion,
the company’s diversified property portfolio
comprises 393 properties in South Africa, 48
www.reimag.co.za

properties in Australia and a 50% interest in the
iconic V&A Waterfront in Cape Town.
An exciting development for the company
was the acquisition of the entire Tiber Group
portfolio of properties and management
business late last year.
In one of it’s largest deals to date - R6.6 billion
- Growthpoint has increased its property
portfolio to include one of the most exclusive
propert