The Competition Commission has recommended, without conditions, that the Competition Tribunal approve a R2bn shopping centre purchase by Luxanio, a company controlled through JSE-listed Dipula Properties. In the same week, reporting citing the Commission’s spokesperson confirmed that grocery exclusivity clauses in mall leases must end by 31 December 2026. Both developments affect who owns and who trades in South African shopping centres.
The Commission found no competition or public interest problem with the mall deal
The recommendation appears in the Commission’s statement on its latest decisions, dated 22 October 2026 and covering its meeting of 20 October. It says Luxanio Trading 181 intends to acquire rental enterprises from Eptacor and from the Moolman Group, that the transaction is unlikely to substantially lessen or prevent competition in any market, and that it raises no significant public interest concerns. The Commission’s role here is to recommend. The Tribunal makes the final decision, so the deal is not yet fully approved, even though one outlet’s headline said the Commission had “approved” it.
The statement identifies the buyers as Luxanio and Mergence Africa Property Fund, which together form the acquiring firms. Luxanio is wholly controlled by Mergence, and Mergence is controlled by Dipula. The Commission describes the acquiring group as a property owner with more than 16 retail properties in Gauteng and one in Polokwane, Limpopo.
Two rental enterprises come from Eptacor: Kaalfontein Corner and Makro Bloemfontein. Six come from the Moolman Group: Lephalale Mall, Sasolburg Mall, City Centre Polokwane, Game Centre Vryburg, Great North Plaza and Rand Steam Shopping Centre. Some headlines have described this as “six malls” and others as nine, and the figures do not match because they count different things. The Commission lists eight enterprises. Dipula’s own announcement, as reported by Engineering News, counts nine assets across four provinces and also lists Checkers Centre Polokwane. We could not find the original JSE announcement itself, so the asset count and deal terms below come from press reports of it.
Dipula says the portfolio is priced at a 9.3% yield and funded by equity and existing debt
Dipula announced the transaction on 24 August. According to Engineering News and Business Day, it is buying the portfolio from the Moolman Group and its co-investors. The company completed a private placement securing R1.1bn in new equity, and will use that along with existing debt facilities for the rest. It expects its loan-to-value ratio to stay between 35% and 40% once the deal is implemented, and says the portfolio is being bought at a blended yield of 9.3%, which it says is below its weighted average cost of capital.
The portfolio covers nearly 90,000 square metres of retail space let to tenants including Checkers, Shoprite, Game, Cashbuild and Makro. The largest asset is a 50% stake in Lephalale Mall in Limpopo, which accounts for about a quarter of the deal value. Business Day reports the mall is valued at about R1.03bn and covers nearly 38,000 square metres, with Dipula’s stake valued at about R516m. Dipula CEO Izak Petersen said the purchase was “not growth for the sake of scale” but selective growth that is accretive from day one, a forecast that is Dipula’s own and has yet to be tested.
For investors, the deal increases Dipula’s exposure to convenience, township and rural retail. Petersen told Business Day that retail would rise to close to 80% of income in the short term, with office exposure falling to about 10%. We have also covered the Commission’s backing of the Umphakathi Mall sale.
Exclusive grocery leases must end by 31 December 2026
The second story is not a new ruling. BusinessTech and Business Day both report that, from January 2027, grocery retailers can no longer enter new exclusive lease agreements, and existing arrangements must be terminated by 31 December 2026. An exclusive lease lets one grocer stop competing supermarkets from opening in the same centre. According to both reports, Commission spokesperson Siyabulela Makunga confirmed that none will be allowed to remain in place after the deadline. We found no separate Commission media statement on this, so the date rests on those reports.
The restrictions come from the Commission’s Grocery Retail Market Inquiry, which found that long-term exclusive leases limited competition and consumer choice. Its report is dated December 2019 in BusinessTech and Business Day, and November 2019 in a Bowmans summary of the Shoprite order. The Commission then negotiated consent agreements with the retailers, which the Tribunal confirmed as binding orders: Shoprite in October 2020, Pick n Pay in June 2021 and SPAR in 2023, according to BusinessTech. Terms differ. Bowmans reports that Shoprite waived exclusivity against small and independent grocers immediately and agreed not to sign new exclusive leases.
Makunga said the rules apply only to Shoprite, Pick n Pay and SPAR, because Woolworths and Food Lover’s Market never held exclusive leases. Business Day also quoted him saying the commission’s recent rural and township economy report had flagged possible exclusive lease arrangements outside grocery that it could target later.
Landlords are already adjusting, but new supermarkets will not appear everywhere
Growthpoint’s head of retail asset management, Gavin Jones, told Business Day that landlords have been reshaping tenant mixes for years. He said some centres can now pair a mainstream grocer with a value-focused one, and that Growthpoint has added Checkers FreshX at La Lucia Mall and Shoprite at Watercrest and Bayside, with more planned at Festival, Vaal and Brooklyn malls. He also cautioned that not every centre has the spending power to support more than one supermarket.
SA Property Owners Association CEO Neil Gopal pointed out that formal retailers sign long leases, so centres can stay full for long periods and vacancies may be slow to appear. Smaller businesses may also choose cheaper premises elsewhere. In other words, the end of exclusivity widens the door but does not guarantee space or footfall for new entrants.
For shoppers, the possible gain is more supermarkets, price points and promotions in larger centres. For landlords such as Dipula, the change matters because grocery anchors drive footfall, and it gives them more freedom when negotiating. None of the reports says whether any Dipula property carries an exclusivity clause. Our earlier coverage of the sector includes the Shoprite PicardiRebel approval, and more is in our Retail & Consumer section.
