JSE building sold for R20m

JOHANNESBURG -- The Johannesburg Stock Exchange has finalised the sale of its Diagonal Street building for R20million, JSE chairman Norman Lowenthal said yesterday.

The JSE is moving to Sandton next year. The deal was first negotiated in February.

Stockbrokers with premises in the JSE building reckoned the new owner -- a businessman and reportedly an orthodontist -- got "a bargain".

To build a similar building here would cost well in excess of R100m.

Lowenthal said the proceeds from the sale would be distributed to the shareholders of the building.

He told Sapa: "We are joining the migration from the Johannesburg city centre where conditions have deteriorated and made it difficult to recruit staff."

He added that he was not aware of the new owner's plans for the stock exchange building.

The JSE will move to a leased building in Sandton in September next year.

Lowenthal said the northern suburb had become the country's "new financial centre". -- Sapa