When RMH Properties first invested in Atterbury Property Holdings (Pty) Ltd (“APH”) in 2016 it made a small, indirect investment into Atterbury Europe. That small, indirect investment has grown into a substantial partnership. We caught up with Brian Roberts, CEO of RMH Properties, to review the past four years of working together.

RMBH is very heavily invested in Atterbury Europe – what originally motivated this interest in the company and the opportunities in Eastern Europe?
RMH Properties’ strategy is to align itself with successful entrepreneurs and their businesses. The original investment was made in a 27.5% stake in APH in 2016; taking a small share in Atterbury Europe was for us a strategic investment into what could potentially be “the next big thing” for the greater Atterbury Group. Fortunately, the opportunity arose in early 2018 for us to substantially increase our stake in Atterbury Europe, and we grew our direct investment to 37.5% which today accounts for over 80% of RMH Properties’ property portfolio. In addition to the 37.5% share in Atterbury Europe, RMH Property owns a 27.5% share in Atterbury Property Holdings (Pty) Ltd, a 20% share in Divercity Property Fund (Pty) Ltd and a 50% share in Integer Properties 3 (Pty) Ltd. We haven’t looked back since.

What is RMBH’s perspective on the growth since you first invested – has it lived up to expectations; and are there any highlights that you would like to point out?
Atterbury Europe’s growth over the last 4 years has been exceptional. It has not come without its challenges, but the company is run and managed by a phenomenal team that always seems to overcome whatever challenges it’s faced with. It is difficult to pinpoint a specific highlight; I enjoy all my visits to Romania, Cyprus and Serbia and in the short period we have been involved with the company we have opened Openville Mall in Timisoara, the Mall of Cyprus and BEO Mall in Belgrade. You have to be involved in the property business to comprehend the amount of work that the greater team puts in to get to successfully open a mall on time… it always gives me a great sense of pride to be able to say “we own a piece of this” when I walk around our amazing portfolio of properties in Europe.

The world is experiencing an unprecedented state of uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic; how has that impacted on how RMBH views the Atterbury Europe progress, which has continued with the openings of new developments throughout the region despite lockdown restrictions?
Yes, COVID-19 has presented us with a number of new challenges, but as I have already mentioned, the Atterbury Europe team are experts at overcoming adversity and facing challenges head on. I am a firm believer that property goes in cycles and yes, we were in a trough before COVID-19 hit, so it will no doubt extend, or even deepen, the trough. However, I am certain that once we are through the worst of it, which I think we are already, that Atterbury Europe will continue on its growth path.

You have personally visited most of Atterbury Europe’s various holdings, though of course not during 2020. When do you hope to be able to do so again, and is there a particular development that you want on your itinerary?
I have visited every mall in the portfolio except our mall in Suceava in Romania, and BEO Mall, which only opened in Belgrade in June 2020, so we haven’t been able to see that. I was hoping to get back to Europe in November, but this second wave has put an end to that plan. I will travel again as soon as we can do so without having to quarantine. I work from home so I don’t really mind if I have to quarantine when I return to SA, but we can’t be spending time in quarantine in countries we visit. I am hoping that we can get to Europe in February next year when our next board meeting takes place. I would love to visit BEO Mall in Belgrade, but I have to confess that I have fallen a little in love with Romania so if I could only choose one place, it would be to go to Romania and try and finally get to visit our mall in Suceava.

Eastern Europe was identified as a growth hub – are there any particular future prospects that are of interest to RMBH in this partnership? What are your views about medium to long-term opportunities in these territories?
That’s an interesting question, given RMH Properties’ investment strategy of investing in entrepreneurs and their teams we try not to guide the strategy of our investments unless we deem it absolutely necessary. We are largely in the hands of Henk and the team and yes, there are one or two very exciting development prospects in the pipeline but it’s a bit premature to talk about them. Let’s just say I am really looking forward to being involved with the Atterbury Europe team for the foreseeable future.

How do you think the property/real estate development industry in Europe, and globally, can best respond to the realities presented by the pandemic; and do you think Eastern Europe has any specific challenges that Atterbury Europe need to manage?
Obviously, the effect of the pandemic on human lives is devastating and tragic but, from a different perspective, I see the pandemic as “just another” economic challenge we have to overcome. The world has faced many major economic challenges dating back to the Great Depression and the Second World War. Perhaps I am an eternal optimist, but people are inherently strong and resilient and, as I have mentioned before, this is a trough in the waves of the property cycle. Yes, there are challenges, but none are insurmountable, and I am 100% confident that people and property will once again rise to the peak of the property cycle in the next three to five years.