Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Competition Commission has approved the sale of the Balfour Park Mall, with the 37,000 square metre retail centre just one of many local assets being sold by its previous owners.
According to the commission, the mall will be acquired by Tradecco Properties, a firm jointly controlled by three shareholders.
Tradecco’s activities in South Africa consist of the acquisition and ownership of retail, commercial, and mixed-use properties and, in certain cases, the management of tenant relationships and rentals.
It also engages in strategic investment and property development opportunities.
The mall is being acquired from the JSE-listed Burstone Group, a South African real estate investment trust (REIT) that has a property portfolio in South Africa, Australia and Europe.
The Balfour Park Mall, also called Balfour Mall, is a 37,000 square metre minor regional centre located on the corner of Athol Road and Johannesburg Road in Highlands North, Johannesburg.
The mall is one of 14 retail centres in Burstone’s portfolio, many of which are currently in the process of being disposed.
According to the group’s interim results for the first six months of the 2026 financial year (ended September 2025), it indicated that Balfour Mall was part of around R500 million in disposals in process.
The group noted that the disposals are happening at a 10.6% discount on their book value.
However, this is because Balfour Mall was sold at a 33.5% discount to its book value, albeit on an earnings-accretive basis.
“The remainder of the assets (minus Balfour Mall) at circa R200 million, were sold at a premium to book value of 17.1%,” the group said.
This places the value of the Balfour sale at R300 million, against an estimated book value of around R450 million.
Burstone noted that it has earmarked a further R1 billion to R1.5 billion of asset disposals over the next 18 months to drive its strategy of building balance sheet capacity.
The group’s retail portfolio delivered 11.5% like-for-like net operating income growth for the period. +
This was driven by a robust trading performance, contractual escalations, and the uplift from the redevelopments at other malls and letting at Design Quarter—another prominent asset in Gauteng.
However, Balfour Mall was having a negative impact due to vacancies.
The group noted that portfolio vacancy remained stable during the period at 4.1% (FY25: 4.3%), but this will improve further to around 1% following the transfer of Balfour Mall.
The Competition Commission said it is of the view that the proposed transaction is unlikely to substantially lessen or prevent competition in any market.
However, the sale is not without conditions.
To address public interest concerns raised by the sale, Tradecco has committed to procuring cleaning, security and maintenance services for the mall from historically disadvantaged persons (HDPs).
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