Des de Beer adds R44.8m of Lighthouse shares as mall owner lifts payouts
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Delsa Investments, held by a trust of which South African property tycoon Des de Beer is a beneficiary, bought 5.5 million Lighthouse Properties shares for about R44.8 million, extending a buying run that has topped R77 million since June.
Delsa Investments Pty Ltd, a company held by a family trust of which South African property tycoon Des de Beer is a beneficiary, bought 5.5 million shares in JSE-listed Lighthouse Properties Plc on the open market on 12 October at R8.15 each — about R44.8 million ($2.7 million) — according to a filing with the Johannesburg Stock Exchange the following day.
The trade is the largest in a series. Delsa bought 3.3 million Lighthouse shares for about R26.5 million ($1.6 million) on 3 September at an average price of R8.04 and made smaller purchases in June, August and September. Exchange filings show it has bought at least 9.6 million Lighthouse shares since early June for more than R77 million ($4.6 million).
De Beer, a non-executive director of Lighthouse, holds the shares as an indirect beneficial interest through the Grove Trust, which owns Delsa. His interests held about 340 million Lighthouse shares, or roughly 16 per cent of the company, according to shareholder data compiled by MarketScreener, making him its second-largest investor after Resilient REIT Ltd, which owns about 27 per cent. At the price Delsa paid on 12 October, a holding of that size is worth about R2.8 billion ($166 million).
Lighthouse, which is registered in Malta and has about 2.1 billion shares in issue, was valued at roughly R17.2 billion ($1 billion) at that price. It changed its name from Lighthouse Capital Ltd in 2021 and has focused on large regional shopping centres in Western Europe, particularly Spain, where it bought Alcalá Magna near Madrid and Espacio Mediterráneo in Cartagena in 2025.
Those acquisitions have lifted payouts. In results published in August, Lighthouse raised its interim distribution 9.7 per cent to 1.4401 euro cents a share for the six months through June as revenue rose to 77 million euros, and increased its full-year distribution forecast to about 3 euro cents a share, 8.7 per cent higher than in 2025. De Beer led Resilient as managing director for years and remains on its board as a non-executive director; Delsa also holds about 8.8 per cent of Resilient, and Resilient is Lighthouse’s partner in the Retail Property Investments SAS mall venture, in which Lighthouse holds 60 per cent.