Online Reporter
Golden Sibanda and Martin Kadzere
NATIVE Investments Africa Group, the investment vehicle of businessman Dr Phillip Chiyangwa, is moving to list its Nyore Nyore housing project on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX).
The ambitious scheme, which is set to deliver over 250 000 stands across five mixed-use residential projects, aims to use the United States dollar-denominated exchange to unlock global capital for the housing project.
Market intelligence says the VFEX listing could unlock over US$5 billion, which will be a record capital raise on an African exchange.
Dr Chiyangwa said while he has, to date, funded all his projects from his own resources, the listing will provide another attractive funding channel to accelerate project development.
The VFEX is a subsidiary of the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) Holdings and operates within the Victoria Falls Special Economic Zone. The bourse serves as the “engine room” for the Victoria Falls Offshore Financial Services Centre, a ring-fenced offshore hub that offers unique fiscal incentives.
Development is underway at the group’s pilot site, the Tantallon Estate, about 20 kilometres south of the capital, Harare, where road and drainage infrastructure installations are at an advanced stage.
With fully developed roads, sewer and water reticulation systems, schools and hospitals, the project will create a self-sustaining community.
According to Dr Chiyangwa, the housing project is the largest ever in Zimbabwe and rivals any other such initiative globally.
In an interview with this publication, he said the listing was of strategic importance as it provides the unique scale of capital required to deliver high-volume housing units.
To ensure the sustainability of the scheme, Native Investments Africa Group is moving into integrated financial services and has submitted a formal banking application within the Victoria Falls Offshore Financial Services Centre.
The entity will provide a robust funding backbone for the project through long-term mortgage funding to provide affordable home loans to prospective buyers.
“We have made the application,” said Dr Chiyangwa.
“We will hear from them (VFEX), but I am quite certain this will work. Applications for banking, asset management and insurance licences have also been lodged with the Victoria Falls Offshore Financial Services Centre.”
ZSE chief executive officer Mr Justin Bgoni was not immediately available for comment by the time of publication.
However, authoritative sources at the bourse confirmed that high-level deliberations between the exchange and Native Investments Africa Group regarding the Nyore Nyore listing “have intensified”.
The discussions, the source said, have been ongoing for several months and have now reached an advanced stage.
“Given the progress we have achieved thus far, we are highly optimistic of a positive outcome; however, we remain mindful that this is a formal regulatory process,” said the source.
Dr Chiyangwa, who has since enlisted veteran banker and former chief executive officer of CBZ Holdings Dr Nyasha Makuvise as executive chairperson, indicated that the group was looking to pioneer the return of long-term housing credit facilities, which have been scarce for years, by introducing mortgage tenors starting at 15 years and potentially extending further as the project matures.
“We are hoping to be the first one (in many years) to have a long-term credit facility available,” he said.
“We are hoping that we can be able to hit, kicking off at 15 years, you know, growing up.”
The Nyore Nyore scheme comprises five mixed-use residential developments: Tantallon Estate, Edinburgh Estate (Manyame), Chegutu City, Somerby Estate (along the Harare-Bulawayo highway) and Kilworth Estate near Norton.
The project is expected to significantly reduce the national housing backlog while aligning with the Vision 2030 target of transforming the country into an upper middle-income society.
Zimbabwe’s housing backlog is estimated at between 1,5 million and 2 million units, driven by rapid urban growth, high construction costs and limited financing.
The national shortage has spurred the growth of informal settlements and the proliferation of bogus housing schemes that have defrauded many homeseekers of their hard-earned savings.
Dr Chiyangwa noted that the planned listing of Nyore Nyore on the VFEX was part of a broader strategy to publicly list the group’s expansive property portfolio.
As Zimbabwe’s largest property investment firm, Native Investments Africa Group has a diversified footprint across the industrial, commercial, hospitality and educational sectors.
These are anchored by the Pomona Industrial Park, which is set to become the largest such industrial facility in the country with 295 medium-to-large-scale factories under construction.
Additional industrial hubs focusing on small-to-medium factories are being developed at Somerby, Manhize and Manyame Estate. In the commercial property sector (shopping malls), the group’s presence includes several major shopping centres such as Masotsha Mall (Waterfalls), Highlands Mall and Sherwood Mall (Marlborough).
Native owns the largest private landholding in Victoria Falls, where it intends to develop a “new city” to complement the resort’s growing status as a financial and tourism hub.
The group’s hospitality interests span prime locations with high growth potential, including Kariba, where it owns several islands and Kanyemba, positioned to become a strategic tri-point junction linking Zimbabwe with Zambia to the north and Mozambique to the
east.
In the social infrastructure sector, Native Investments Africa Group operates a network of primary and secondary schools, along with tertiary colleges in Harare, currently supporting approximately 10 000 learners.
Tinaye Agere