African Capital Alliance (“ACA”) today announced the sale of Cornerstone Tower, an A-grade office building in Lagos, to Everty, a strategic investor that focuses on acquisition and development of prime real estate around the world. ACA’s pioneer Real Estate Fund, Capital Alliance Property Investment Company (“CAPIC”) made the investment in partnership with Cornerstone Insurance Plc. and Fin Insurance.
The building, 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.
Everty shared a few comments on the transaction: “We’re pleased to add Cornerstone Tower 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 Tower reflect the ambition and innovation happening across the country.”
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. Our strategy is to invest in assets in optimal locations and to prepare them for discerning space users. We remain focused on asset differentiation and delivering good returns across our portfolio”.
Mr. 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 at the professionalism from conception to exit”.
With this exit, the Cornerstone Tower portfolio investment has delivered a gross USD IRR of 25.6% to CAPIC’s investors.
About ACA and CAPIC African Capital Alliance (ACA) is a leading pan-African investment firm sponsoring funds and managing investments in Sub-Saharan Africa. Capital Alliance Property Investment Company, L.P. (“CAPIC”) is a $165m 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.