Leading pan African investment firm, African Capital Alliance (“ACA”), has sold an A-grade office building in Lagos, Cornerstone Tower, for an undisclosed fee to a strategic investor, Everty.
ACA’S pioneer Real Estate Fund, Capital Alliance Property Investment Company (“CAPIC”) made the investment in partnership with Cornerstone Insurance Plc. and Fin Insurance.
CAPIC is a $165 million fund established to invest in real estate and real estate related opportunities in West Africa. The fund invests in residential, retail, office and hospitality assets. The firm is also in the process of launching CAREN II, which is an income and growth product.
Cornerstone Tower, located in Victoria Island, was completed in April 2019 and has 13 floors comprising 24,000m2 of gross building area, and 12,000m2 of gross lettable space, along with features such as raised floors and multi-level parking.
Cornerstone Tower received an IFC Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies (“EDGE”) provisional certification as a green building, a recognition given to encourage developers to reduce their buildings’ energy and water consumption by significant percentages, thus lowering their potential carbon footprint.
Obi Nwogugu, speaking for ACA said, “The sale of Cornerstone Tower, shows that there is a market for properly developed assets that meet high-quality, international specifications.”
Despite the challenges in Nigeria’s real estate market over recent years, it has become increasingly competitive and sophisticated, according to Nwogugu.
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“Our strategy is to invest in assets in optimal locations and to prepare them for discerning space users,” Nwogugu said, before adding that ACA “remains focused on asset differentiation and delivering good returns across our portfolio”.
Ganiyu Musa, CEO Cornerstone Insurance Plc also expressed delight at the sale, “Our partners met and, in many instances, exceeded our expectations regarding cost, timeliness and quality. We were extremely pleased with the professionalism from conception to exit”.
The Buy e r, Eve r t y shared a few comments on the sale “We’re pleased to add Cornerstone Towers to our international real estate portfolio.
Everty is committed to investing in assets that are at the cutting edge of design and sustainability, and our purchase of Cornerstone Tower is testament to that.
Nigeria is increasingly becoming an attractive country for companies to invest in, and buildings such as Cornerstone Towers reflect the ambition and innovation happening across the country.”
With this exit, the Cornerstone Tower portfolio investment has delivered a gross USD IRR of 25.6% to CAPIC’S investors.
