Since January this year, Brynn Janeke and his team at DJ Offshore have been working hard at establishing the concept of fractional residential property owner-ship in places like London and Dubai as a simple, viable offshore investment option for South African citizens.

As a pioneer of fractional ownership in South Africa, DJ Syndico has been involved in selling fractional ownership in leisure estates, including Zebula, Pecanwood, Pinnacle Point, the Black Rhino Reserve near Sun City, Eden Island in the Seychelles and Mjejane in the Kruger National Park.

The fractional ownership concept is relatively simple and has been gaining in popularity both in South Africa and abroad. An eight to 10 per cent fractional ownership of a luxury home, typically a unit in an up-market estate, secures the investor four to five weeks of leisure time per year, at the estate plus the advantage of an appreciating asset.

‘DJ Offshore, part of the DJ Syndico Group, was created in January 2008 to spearhead consortium ownership of residential apartments internationally for South African investors,’ says Brynn. ‘As such, the product focus has shifted from a leisure option, whereby the investor receives leisure usage, to one in which the investor gains capital growth on an investment, but never actually lives in the apartment. Instead, the apartment is rented out to achieve maximum returns over time.’

So far, the new product has been a huge success. The first development included six two-bedroom apartments in London’s Capital East, which had a price tag of well over R7-million apiece. ‘The ownership of a single apartment was divided into nine fractions and we have concluded R50-million worth of deals since January 2008,’ says Brynn. ‘Most of our South African investors actually bought multiple fractions, and, since then, the apartments have attracted upmarket financial professionals who are renting the accommodation on account of Capital East’s proximity to Canary Wharf’s financial district. Also, the apartments are at the heart of London’s 2012 Olympic focus, which means that they are a superb investment.’

This month, Brynn’s team will be launching consortium property investments products in the United Arab Emirates. Brynn says the region is diversifying its economy so as not to be solely dependent on its vast oil wealth.

‘There is an unprecedented shortage of suitable accommodation for expatriate pro-fessionals, and we are currently negotiating to invest in sophisticated upmarket residential apartments in the Dubai area, which South Africans will be able to invest in through consortium ownership,’ says Brynn.
South Africans will be buying into an overseas-based company that owns shares in, and freehold title to, upmarket apartments abroad. ‘All rental income will be used to pay the bond and the payout at the end of three or five years will be mostly capital in nature,’ says Brynn.

‘Not only are we offering local South Africans geographical diversification for their investment portfolio, but we are also offering capital and rental growth in hard currency. The apartments are paid for in dirham, the currency of the region, and, similarly, returns are in dirham,’ he adds. The dirham is pegged to the US dollar.
Brynn’s previous work experience perfectly matches DJ Offshore’s current scheme to extract property wealth from petroleum related ventures. Born in Pietermaritzburg and educated in Witbank, he completed his mandatory 18 months of army duty before moving on to the University of the Witwatersrand, where he completed a BCom (Honours) in Marketing.

Having had the benefit of a full bursary from Sasol, he joined its head office in the late 1980s and spent six years with the company, rolling out a chain of Sasol petrol stations. ‘I quickly learnt that service stations are all about property, and I was involved in a great deal of legal and contractual work, which was necessary to secure sites for Sasol,’ Brynn explains.

In 1994, he joined the property division of Group Five Construction, where he was involved in the marketing of the company’s countrywide cluster and townhouse developments. In 1998, he left the construction giant to pursue his own property interests, later becoming closely involved with the development of 120 cluster houses built on the old Douglasdale Dairy property in Douglasdale, Sandton.

‘I still live in the area and have a sense of pride every time I drive past the development. We did a good job there and built quality homes. People got a very good deal in Douglasdale,’ says Brynn. Diversifying his personal portfolio, Brynn moved into the world of franchising. However, his heart was always in the world of property development, to which he has returned.

He says: ‘I am deeply involved in the marketing and selling of the DJ Offshore investments and it’s very exciting to be taking fractional property ownership to a whole new level by means of our overseas residential consortium developments.’

‘I believe we are also selling convenience,’ he adds. ‘We source the best investment apartments, and then we manage the apartments on behalf of our investors. We source our own tenants, furnish the apartments, collect the rents and fix the leaking taps. In essence, we assist you to buy property abroad and then we manage that property for you.

‘Our product works for South Africans because, through fractional ownership, we make property affordable in places like London and Dubai. Our current investment options are just the beginning of our international expansion,’ Brynn predicts.

‘Now that we have the model, we can go anywhere in the future – developing residential property in Sydney through to Shanghai. In the short- to medium- term, we are also hoping to take our leisure expertise and move into the fractional ownership of leisure properties offshore,’ he says.
‘Having started DJ Offshore in January, and being known as fractional experts locally, we believe that the time has come for South Africans to diversify their portfolios into property ownership internationally. Investing in consortium apartments abroad is one of the simplest ways to do this.’
Brynn is married to Janine. He describes himself as a family man, and says he is very involved in the lives of their two children. Despite his access to international holiday destinations, Brynn prefers to relax at home, in South Africa. He says: ‘I am happiest in Dullstroom, where, on the coldest day in winter, having just caught a trout, I can move indoors to sip a single malt.’