R1bn for the finest homes the Cape can offer

An expatriate philanthropist, an entrepreneur who turned dirty laundry into a fortune and an antipiracy specialist are among a discreet group of individuals who, in a single year, spent nearly R1-billion in cash on luxury homes in Cape Town.

Buyers are notoriously publicity-shy when acquiring trophy homes skirting the pristine beaches of Clifton or the tree-lined avenues of Bishopscourt.

But an analysis of more than 30 properties - each worth upwards of R20-million - bought for cash between 2013 and 2014 has revealed some of the personalities behind the homes ogled by holidaymakers in the city.

Using public records, the Sunday Times traced several of these high-flying local and foreign buyers.

A large and highly sought-after plot overlooking Clifton was acquired by an obscure foreign buyer this year for R70-million. South African-born Clive Calder emerged this week as one of the foreign investors behind the deal.

Calder, a former teenage bass guitarist from Joburg, is a record label tycoon who signed up artists including Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys before selling his business in 2002 for $2.7-billion.

Nowadays, the philanthropist closely guards his privacy and lives on the Cayman Islands, where he is an investor in Taupo Holdings, the company that shelled out R70-million for a sliver of mountain.

Taupo's investment and real estate adviser, Rami Harawi, speaking from Lagos, Nigeria, said: "They invest in real estate globally, mainly in Africa and India."

He said two villas on the site would be demolished and replaced with 14 luxury apartments in a project featuring architect Stefan Antoni. They will go on the market in early 2017.

Cash deals are not uncommon at the upper end of the city's property market, particularly on the Atlantic seaboard.

Dogon Group Properties CEO Denise Dogon said: "Affluent buyers have a private banker. They use the best source of funding, sometimes cash or another asset as collateral."

Dogon sold a Bantry Bay house two weeks ago for R48-million in cash. She declined to name the buyer.

A trawl through property sales records shows other recent cash buyers to be:

UK entrepreneur John Laithwaite, who made a fortune supplying laundry equipment to hospitals, prisons and hotels. He snapped up a three-bedroom apartment at the Waterfront for R23.9-million - R93882 per square metre;

Nigerian maritime and antipiracy specialist Garth Dooley, who paid R26.7-million, almost R100000/m², for an apartment in the exclusive Eventide block carved into a cliff at Clifton. The suburb's parking shortage does not perturb residents; they drive onto the roof and are lowered by a car lift to their front door; and

The Stephen Saad Investment Trust, which paid R38.5-million in March for an apartment within strolling distance of restaurants and shops at the Waterfront.

Dogon said most of the buyers were local.

"Even if they live abroad, many are ex-South Africans or have a business here. Ninety-nine percent have a connection to South Africa."

Local cash buyers over the past few months have included former Rand Merchant Bank chief investment officer Derek Prout-Jones, advertising executive Greg Benatar and investment executive Simon Peile.

Topping the list for the most expensive flutter on the property market is Macsteel founder Eric Samson, who reportedly paid R198-million for a six-bedroom apartment at The Clifton.