Vukile Property Fund, a property loan stock company, said it will acquire a portfolio of 20 properties, worth around $183m (R1.5bn), from Sanlam Life Insurance.

To be effective in June next year, the acquisition will be funded through a combination of debt and the issue of new linked units.

Vukile chief executive Laurence Rapp said the acquisition is in line with Vukile`s new strategy of growing a quality portfolio of properties with strong contractual cash flows in order to achieve meaningful capital appreciation and sustainable growth in distributions.

Simultaneously, the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) has entered an agreement with Sanlam, which it will acquire 70.2 million Vukile linked units from Sanlam.

With the transaction between Sanlam and the PIC, Sanlam`s holding in Vukile will decrease to 13.6%, of which 7.6% will be held by Sanlam policy holder funds and, as such, constitutes an institutional holding. The PIC`s stake in Vukile would be around 20%.

Vukile said the introduction of the PIC as an investor is a positive development for Vukile as it will broaden its shareholder base and should lead to an increased JSE free float.