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The Competition Tribunal has unconditionally approved a transaction that will see Discovery acquire its head office building in Sandton, dubbed Discovery Place, from JSE-listed Growthpoint Properties and Zenprop.<\/p>\n
The deal involves Discovery Propco \u2013 a newly established, wholly owned subsidiary of Discovery Ltd \u2013 acquiring sections 2 and 3 of the sectional title scheme from Growthpoint Properties and the Truzen 114 Trust (effectively owned by Zenprop).<\/p>\n
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Discovery buys head office from Growthpoint, Zenprop for R4bn
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At the same time, Growthpoint will acquire Section 1 of the building from the same trust.<\/p>\n
Discovery Place comprises three interconnected office towers with conference, wellness and limited retail facilities. Discovery Central Services, part of the group, is already a tenant in the building.<\/p>\n
The approval follows an announcement in February that Discovery would purchase its head office for about R4.05 billion, as it reassesses its long-term lease arrangements.<\/p>\n
\nThe group had signed a 15-year lease in 2018 after consolidating its operations into the building, but indicated it would likely remain in the space beyond the lease period.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The shift to ownership is expected to reduce costs over time, with Discovery previously noting that changing from a lease to a commercial mortgage structure would result in lower overall expenditure.<\/p>\n
The Tribunal found no competition concerns arising from the transaction and approved it without conditions.<\/p>\n
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