JSE-listed REIT Vukile, through its Spanish subsidiary Castellana, owns the Forum Madeira shopping centre in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal. The REIT is now also expanding into Italy.
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Vukile Property Fund exceeded guidance for the year to March 31, significantly increased the valuations of its assets, strengthened its Iberian portfolio and is taking its first deliberate steps into Italy.
The specialist retail real estate investment trust (REIT) delivered 9.3% per share growth for the past financial year in both funds from operations and dividends.
"Operational excellence, value-add projects, key acquisitions in core markets, and strategic deals in new territories collectively played a pivotal role in delivering results ahead of guidance,” said Vukile CEO Laurence Rapp.
Through its 99,7%-owned Spain-based subsidiary Castellana Properties, Vukile has a €2.2 billion (around R41 billion) portfolio across Spain and Portugal. During the year, it acquired a 35% stake in Pradera, the pan-European retail fund and asset manager with €5bn of assets under management.
Leveraging Pradera’s track record in Italy, Vukile entered the Italian market post year-end with a €115 million portfolio of three shopping centres and establishing a new Italian holding company Esperia Properties as a platform for further expansion.
Including its post-year-end acquisitions, Vukile holds R63.bn in assets, with close to 70% of its assets in Europe.
In South Africa, Vukile has a R19.5bn portfolio of township, rural, urban, and commuter malls. The like-for-like SA portfolio was valued 12.3% higher.
Vukile saw like-for-like net operating income growth of 10.3% in South Africa and 7.9% in Iberia.
In the South African portfolio, retailer sales grew by 5.4% with increases across almost all categories, and footfalls increased by 2.2%.
Vacancies remained low at 1.7%. The portfolio’s cost-to-income ratio improved further from 15.3% to 12.4%, with electricity savings being a key contributor due to Vukile’s solar PV installations now exceeding 40.3MWp and generating 29% of electricity in the portfolio.
Castellana’s Iberian portfolios saw retail sales grow by 4.5% and footfall by 3.6%. Vacancies stood at 1.1%. Collections neared 100%, improving in Portugal from 91% to 97.4% with the benefit from a full year of Castellana’s management. Castellana’s like-for-like shopping centre portfolio value grew by 8.9%.
Vukile continued to identify and invest in asset management initiatives. Among projects completed by Castellana, Vallsur was repositioned with a €16.7m investment, creating a leisure and dining hub and introducing outlet fashion concepts.
Castellana is expanding Los Arcos, which is already fully let, with new leisure options including food and beverage and bowling, representing a €32m investment.
In South Africa, at East Rand Mall, a R71m project repurposed over 5,000 square metres of former cinema space into a multi-tenant retail offering.
Vukile is also investing R76m to extend Nonesi Mall, with the pre-let project designed to strengthen its market position, improve tenant mix, and generate accretive returns on a 9.5% yield.
“The financial year was defined by decisive, disciplined capital allocation, made possible by a strong balance sheet, accretive capital recycling, and well-supported capital raising,” said Rapp.
After raising R2.65bn in October 2025, Vukile continued to see compelling opportunities across its markets. Shareholders approved a further 9% extension to Vukile's authority to issue shares. The company went on to raise a further R2.8bn.
Vukile ended the year with significant liquidity of nearly R8bn available.
In SA, Vukile concluded R1.7bn in transactions. The company disposed of R630m of assets while it took transfer of a 50% stake in Chatsworth Mall, and a regional shopping centre in Chatsworth, KwaZulu-Natal, for R620m.
Vukile is also acquiring 100% of Botshabelo Mall in the Free State's largest township for R433m, which should transfer in July 2026.
In Spain, Vukile executed transactions of €902m. Castellana disposed of nine retail parks in Spain for €279m. Acquisitions included the Berceo shopping centre in La Rioja for €104m.
Post-period, Castellana acquired the Islazul shopping centre in Madrid for €318m and a 50% stake in the Splau shopping centre in Barcelona, in joint venture with globally prominent retail REIT Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW), with Castellana's share valued at €175m.
“Vukile is replicating our proven Castellana playbook to build Esperia in Italy, where we see the potential to acquire a portfolio in excess of €500m over time,” said Rapp.
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