Rael Levitt (born 10 May 1971) is an entrepreneur, author and business leader from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. He is a double master's degree graduate from the

UCLA Anderson School of Management The John E. Anderson Graduate School of Management, also known as the UCLA Anderson School of Management, is the graduate business school at the University of California, Los Angeles, one of eleven professional schools. The school offers MBA (ful ...

and the National University of Singapore.

Career

Levitt founded multiple real estate, investment and asset management companies. He is best known for developing both auctions and logistics parks in Southern Africa.

Early career

While studying at the University of Cape Town, Levitt sold his first property in 1989. In August 1992, he conducted his first auction on behalf of Absa Bank Ltd and at the age of 21 founded his first auction company, Levco Auctions. Three years later Levitt sold Levco Auctions to Seeff Holdings Ltd and merged the two companies. Levitt was appointed CEO of the merged company that was renamed Seeff Auctions.

Auction Alliance

After the delisting of Seeff Holdings Ltd in 1998, Levitt completed a management buyout of Seeff Auctions, renamed the company Auction Alliance and became its CEO. In 2006 Auction Alliance sold a 25.1% stake to Amabubesi Investments and in 2010 a 31% stake to Transaction Capital. By 2010 Auction Alliance's turnover was over R300 million, with sales of over R6 billion. In 2011, after a well-publicized dispute arose at an auction, Levitt voluntarily closed Auction Alliance.

Superpom

In 2012, Levitt acquired a bankrupt

Pomegranate The pomegranate (''Punica granatum'') is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punicoideae, that grows between tall. The pomegranate was originally described throughout the Mediterranean Basin, Mediterranean re ...

orchard at the Bonathaba Farms in Wellington, Cape Town and renamed it Superpom SA. The company became South Africa's largest pomegranate exporter and Levitt became a non-executive Chairman of the company.

Inospace

In 2017 Levitt founded Inospace, an owner and manager of serviced industrial and logistics parks. The company began with one industrial park in Epping, Cape Town and grew through acquisitions. Under Levitt's leadership, Inospace grew its assets in South Africa and the United Kingdom to over R3billion. In 2022 Inospace concluded a R1,25billion transaction with Fortress REIT Ltd.

Lift Airline

Levitt is a founding shareholder of Lift Airline, which launched on 10 December 2020. Lift operates on major domestic routes from O. R. Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg using a fleet of

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the famil ...

narrow body aircraft, operated by Global Aviation. Levitt is a non-executive director of the airline.

Book

It Takes a Tsunami (2022), published by Mercury.

Community positions

In 2010 Levitt was appointed as the Chairman of YAD. He was appointed a trustee of the Rambam Trust, a board member of Glendale care services and the United Jewish Campaign. Levitt is the founding trustee of the Red Circle Trust, which focuses on entrepreneurial educational development.

References

External links

* https://www.raellevitt.com/ * https://www.linkedin.com/in/raellevitt/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Levitt, Rael 1971 births Living people South African auctioneers