End of an era for owner of South Africa’s biggest shopping mall

·1 Nov 2025

The owner of Fourways Mall, Accelerate Property Fund, has marked the end of an era with former CEO and director, Michael Georgiou, being booted off its board after 12 years.

At Accelerate’s AGM earlier in October, Georgiou was booted from the board when over 97% of shareholders voted against his reappointment.

Accelerate is the 50% co-owner of Fourways Mall, with the other 50% owned by Georgiou’s investment vehicle Azrapart.

Georgiou has always been inextricably tied up in Accelerate and Fourways Mall, having been a director of the company since 2013, including being the group’s CEO when it listed that year.

He stepped down as CEO of Accelerate in 2022, purportedly to focus on the development of Fourways Mall, but remained on the AFP board.

Georgiou also held a significant interest in Accelerate itself—but this dropped to just 4% this year after Investec and FirstRand’s RMB acquired 312 million shares from him, which were put up as security for funding.

Things continued to be strained for Georgiou in 2025, with Azrapart being forced into business rescue by the Free State High Court in June. This followed an application from Investec and RMB.

Aside from Azrapart, Georgiou is also tied to various entities involved with the mall and the Fourways Precinct as a whole—all owing millions to Accelerate.

In 2024, Accelerate and these entities reached an agreement to “restructure” various debts owed to fall collectively under Azrapart, totalling just under R800 million.

This included R632 million owed by the Fourways Precinct, R134 million owed by the Michael Family Trust, and R30 million owed by Azrapart itself.

To settle the debt, the groups found a creative solution where Accelerate agreed to pay Azrapart R300 million as part of a “rebuilt claim”, including R71 million for the delay in settling the claim.

In addition, Accelerate would pay Azrapart R75 million for an undivided share of 50% of the remaining bulk of development space, and another R242 million for an undivided share of 50% of the parking bays.

After finding a balance for all the debts owed between Accelerate and Azrapart, the total was brought to nil.

However, with Azrapart in business rescue, Accelerate was forced to chalk up the debts owed by Azrapart under its expected credit losses (ECL) for the full year.

This resulted in the category ballooning to R1 billion, and pushing the group’s annual loss to R1.27 billion.

As for the development of Fourways Mall, it is now being run and managed by Accelerate and its appointed managers, Flanagan & Gerard and the Moolman Group.

Turnaround at Fourways Mall

Despite the financial mess happening behind the scenes, the efforts by Accelerate and the new managers to turn Fourways Mall around have been paying off.

Through a R400 million injection into the mall, the managers have improved its tenant mix and have made a concerted effort to target upwardly mobile shoppers and draw lost foot traffic back.

Popular gym chain Planet Fitness became a key addition to the mall in August, opening its 51st gym in the country.

Other retailers that recently joined the mall include Huawei, Spur, Mochachos, Pet Shop Science and ZuluZenith, while Spur has also re-joined the mall.

Financial service providers, African Bank and Travelex, have also moved to more convenient positions in the mall.

Another major brand that is likely to draw attention from South African shoppers is the coming launch of Wallmart at the mall.

The US retail giant is expected to launch several branded stores for the first time in South Africa in the coming weeks, with its presence at Fourways Mall already confirmed.

In addition to the new stores, the mall has been working on a large-scale solar energy system that will see a large section of the roof decked in solar panels.

Navigating Fourways Mall has also become easier due to several recent upgrades, such as improved signage, brighter lighting and a more intuitive wayfinding system.

The mall has also changed its operating hours, now open until 20h00 each day, with free parking after 17h00.