MD,  UPDC, Mr. Hakeem Ogunniran


The UACN Property Development Company (UPDC) Real Estate Investment  Trust (REIT)  will open for  public subscription tomorrow  just as the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of UPDC, Mr. Hakeem Ogunniran, has said the  REIT is  an investment that would  generate income from the very first day.

UPDC is offering by way of Initial Public Offering (IPO), 3,000,000,000 units   of the REIT of N10 each at par to raise N30 billion.

Ogunniran explained that the REIT is a very unique investment vehicle with complete assets that have history and which have performed over the years. The assets, he maintained, are fully occupied  with no vacancy which readily makes the REIT to be able to generate income from the very first day as a result of its full tenancy.

“The REIT is a unique opportunity that rarely comes around in the sense that the assets are there for all to see. Fund is not being raised to start looking for assets. There are assets on ground which have performed over the years and are still going to double the performance in future. The REIT is going to be very liquid because from the cutoff date, we as sponsors have to return the advance rent already collected to the REIT. So, from day one, the REIT is generating income,” he said.

Also speaking on the offer, Mrs. Hamda Ambah of  FSDH Asset Management Limited,   the fund manager to the REIT,  “UPDC can be said to have done it again. You will recall that a few years ago, they issued a corporate bond and they came out successful and set the pace for so many companies. The beauty of this REIT is that it is diversified by geography  because UPDC has  houses in Abuja, Port Harcourt and Lagos. It is also diversified by real estate types in that they have residential real estate as well as commercial offices,” Ambah said.