The state-owned company Transnet wants to spruce up Johannesburg's iconic Carlton Centre. And another redevelopment is on the cards in Cape Town. Transnet now sees itself as a major real estate investor.

When Maria Ramos was Transnet's CEO in the early 2000s, she launched an initiative to review properties owned by the logistics company with a view to selling some of them to raise capital.

After all, it doesn't make sense for a company like Transnet - whose main operations involve running freight rail networks and ports - to also manage a portfolio of properties in the retail, office and residential markets.

By 2007, Ramos' review pointed to a need for Transnet to sell several properties, including the Carlton Centre, an iconic property in downtown Johannesburg that stands 223m high and has dominated the city's skyline for around 50 years.

Transnet considered the Carlton Centre, which it bought from Anglo American in 1999 for R33-million to use as its headquarters, as non-core to its operations - thus starting a process in 2007 to engage potential buyers.

A year before this process started, Transnet successfully sold the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town for R7-billion to several investors, including London and Regional...