ATHENA PROPERTIES LTD

ATHENA P R O P E R TI ES LT D

Adopting a grand vision to develop landmark projects www.athena-properties.com

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Breathing Life

Real

into East African

aving firmly established itself as the preferred property developer and urban management services firm in East Africa, known for its mixed-use developments and the creation of urban nodes, Centum Investments’ subsidiary, Athena Properties is capitalising on the Kenyan Government’s decentralisation initiative to tap into new real estate

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opportunities.

Meanwhile, the Company’s existing significant projects – including Two Rivers mall, the largest retail centre in sub-Saharan Africa, and Pearl Marina, Uganda’s destination of choice for tourists and locals alike – are taking shape as planned; showcasing Athena’s unwavering commitment to developing landmark projects that incorporate global best practices.

“Two Rivers mall is now ready for

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opening and occupation. The two office towers located at the top of the mall are in the final stages of completion and we are extremely pleased with progress of Phase 1 so far and are keen to push-on with Phase 2,” says Chris Ochieng, the Company’s Managing Director (MD).

“Moreover, Pearl Marin Phase 1 is currently under construction with the show cluster scheduled to complete by November, 2016.”

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Deploying its total master plan to accommodate East Africa’s real estate needs, Athena Properties continues to access new and exciting growth opportunities

Estate Writer: Emily Jarvis • Project Manager: Stuart Parker

Chris Ochieng, Managing Director

Construction of the entranceway facade of the Two Rivers Mall during the first quarter of 2016

Tangible wealth

Securing these high-calibre flagship projects was thanks to both Athena’s passionate workforce and alignment with the Company’s core values to create long-term value and sustainable, tangible wealth for clients and stakeholders. As one of many regional real estate giants stepping up to the plate to answer East Africa’s call for an end-to-end seamless construction service – comprising land acquisition,

master planning, urban planning, project management, construction management, development management and project finance right through to asset management – Athena is not afraid to push the limits of what others deem impossible.

“We are the best because of who we are and what we value,” highlights Ochieng. “We strive to create an entirely new way of thinking for real estate in the region, doing our part

to put East Africa on-par with the rest of the world.

We take a grand vision and breathe life into it.”

To drive this grand vision, Athena is advantageously able to leverage the wider Centum Investment Group’s reputation and broader industry perspective of working in international markets to drive real estate opportunities across sub-Saharan Africa.

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FUNSCAPES GROUP

Two Rivers Situated on 100 acres in a prime Nairobi location, Two Rivers is a new urban node currently under construction that is set to become Kenya’s financial hub, business and residential location of choice. Aligning with digital transformation trends, the development will have a Tier 4-ready data centre that will provide collocation services, hosting, network and security services, and universally consistent operations. The data centre is more than 90 percent complete with testing currently underway “The relationship between Centum and Athena is built purely on the principles of synergy and leverage.

Centum is a reputable investment Company in East Africa that has participated in sealing multimillion investment deals across East Africa, Middle East, parts of Europe and East Asia. There is synergy between the Group’s other subsidiaries which also present opportunities. For example, NABO Capital, Centum’s asset management subsidiary has been known to help Athena secure structured funding for its projects,” he further explains.

in the mixed-use sector.

“Consumer spending has gone up by more than 65 percent in recent times, making Kenya one of the fastest growing retail markets. This is an attractive figure for both local and international retailers who are beginning to look for the best malls and geographic locations to set-up shop,” says Ochieng. “And growth is not just in the cities, it has spread beyond into the satellite towns outside Nairobi, which now also present opportunities for retail expansion.”

In line with this, Athena has indentified that more can be done to strategically plan future urban Master planning nodes and mixed-use developments Given Kenya’s status as the second in the region; which is where the biggest formal retail market in Africa, Company’s premium master planning owing to the increased urbanisation skills come into play. The MD details: and continuous growth among the “We are moving in to fill these gaps middle-class, local real estate continues by bringing our all-encompassing to be a lucrative area that presents offering that makes us stand out from opportunities for expansion, especially the competition; like tackling the

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unscapes Group – consisting of Funscapes FZC, UAE; Funscapes India Pvt Ltd; and Funscapes Ltd Kenya – is a one-stop shop for entertainment, indoor family entertainment centres (FEC) and outdoor amusement parks. Services include creating feasibility studies, and designing, building and operating entertainment centres, amusement parks and standalone attractions.

Formed by a Group of leisure industry professionals with years of experience from around the world, Funscapes has built a name for itself for not only setting up, designing, building and operating amusement parks and family entertainment centres, but doing so in a profitable way.

What sets Funscapes apart is the Company’s ability to operate the facilities upon completion of the building phase, where projections are not only made a reality, but the best standards of operations are maintained to ensure optimum sustainability and profitability for the centres.

In Kenya Funscapes already has three FECs operating and has introduced the first planetarium, the first 7D interactive ride, and a series of family rides within the confines of a mall. At Two Rivers, Funscapes is building a small outdoor park around the waterfront that will include a flume ride, a dancing fountain with a laser show, bumper boats and an interactive water play area.

Funscapes prides itself in incorporating the latest technologies and, in the levels of service standards it adheres to, the best experience possible for the families that visit the centres regularly.

www.funscapes.net

www.funscapes.net

Funscapes offers a complete solution for setting up, designing, building and operating amusement parks and family entertainment centers.

We not only make our projections a reality but also see the best standards of operation are maintained and the centers are sustainable and profitable.

UAE Funscapes FZE, UAE P.O.Box. 16589 T: +971 - 501541047 +919 - 967887595 E: sanjaychakraborty@funscapes.net

INDIA Funscapes India Private Limited 12/90, Unnat Nagar-3, M.GmRoad, Goregaon (w), Mumbai - 400 062, India T: +91-22-28771872 / 73

Kenya Funscapes Limited 2nd Floor, TRM Off Thika Road Highway Nairobi, Kenya

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additional infrastructure needed with a growing population such as healthcare centres, schools, recreational facilities and so on.

“Our strategy is to acquire land, conduct a feasibility study, master plan it, obtain approvals then put up developments that lift the value of the land and attract more developments.

This has been successfully achieved at Two Rivers and Pearl Marina so far.”

With earthworks scheduled for the fourth quarter of this year, the Company’s latest project in Vipingo is to put this master plan to the test once more. The exclusive, mixed-use 9,500 acre coastal city will be anchored by industrial development and supported by high quality infrastructure.

“Already dubbed a future economic hub, Athena’s objective is to develop the most competitive/lowest cost location for doing business in Kenya,” explains Ochieng. “Phase 1 will provide serviced land with complete connectivity to a reliable state-of-theart trunk infrastructure to serve the development.”

Already dubbed a future economic hub, Athena’s objective is to develop the most competitive/ lowest cost location for doing business in Kenya

Pearl Marina Phase 1 Set to become Uganda’s tourism, business and residential destination of choice providing state of the art facilities and an urban experience, Pearl Marina will integrate world-class premium facilities supported by high quality centrallymanaged infrastructure.

The development is being constructed in phases and when complete it will have an estimated built-up area of 1,450,000 square metres Capacity building

In preparation for the continued growth and demand for infrastructure in East Africa, Athena has been investing in its internal capacities to engage the youth of tomorrow in the future of real estate. Aligning with Centum’s capacity building strategy, the Company has absorbed more than 12 graduate trainees since establishment in 2013. “This is done with a lot of guidance, mentoring and

monitoring,” Ochieng emphasises. “I am happy to report that some of them are now lead project managers and competent leaders in their areas of specialty.”

Crucial to its line of business, Athena has in-house engineering capabilities which are continually improved through training and secondment programmes so that staff are exposed to emerging trends and international real estate markets.

Aerial view of Two Rivers during construction in mid-2015

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Combining its strong project pipeline with these strategic internal investments, Athena is in the right place at the most fortuitous time in East African real estate history. “We have a lot on the cards and I believe that in a year’s time, we will be rolling out Phase 2 of the Two Rivers development – which will include luxury and branded apartments and development of a five-star hotel – and at Pearl Marina, we hope to begin delivery of apartments, a hotel and a residence club. Meanwhile, Vipingo’s trunk infrastructure, healthcare centre, vocational centre and social amenities will be under development,” Ochieng concludes.

“We will continue to focus our attentions on Kenya and Uganda, however, we are keeping a close-eye on emerging opportunities in Tanzania and Rwanda; with the ultimate longterm vision of operating across the whole of sub-Saharan Africa.”

Corporate citizen As part Athena’s efforts to enhance local knowledge and learning, the Company has joined hands with its partners at Two Rivers and Nairobi City County to rebuild Mathari Primary School; which will see more than 700 children access a better learning environment.

So far, Athena has completed the construction of 36 classrooms, a library and an ICT lab.

Chris Ochieng (left) explains the master plan for reconstruction of the Old Mathari Primary School to Nairobi Governor, Evans Kidero (centre-seated). The school will have more than 32 classrooms, an administration block, social hall, stocked library and computer labs. It will serve more than 1,000 pupils

Furthermore, in Vipingo, Athena is to take part in an initiative to develop vocational training courses for the local youth in a bid to enhance their future employment opportunities in the construction industry

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ATHENA PROPERTIES LTD 5th Floor, International House Mama Ngina Street Nairobi, Kenya T: +254 20 228 6000/316 303 F: +254 722 205 339 www.athena-properties.com