(By TopHotelNews of 06th August 2018)
Katara Hospitality—which is a leading global hotel owner, developer and operator, based in Qatar—and AccorHotels—which is a world-leading travel & lifestyle group and digital innovator with a presence in 100 countries and c.4,500 hotels—have announced the creation of an investment fund.
In addition to that investment fund, there will also be a targeted investment capacity of over $1 billion dedicated to the hospitality industry in several Sub-Saharan African countries.
The Future of the Fund
The fund will amount to as much as $500 million in equity, of which Katara Hospitality and AccorHotels will contribute respectively up to $350 million and $150 million over the next 5 to 7 years, with additional financing capacity that will be reached through leverage and co-investments.
The fund will also target greenfield projects, brownfield projects and conversions of existing hotels through acquisitions, in a region which offers robust growth opportunities. Approximately 40 hotels (around 9.000 rooms) will span across the wide range of internationally renowned brands of AccorHotels, from economy to luxury segments, including residences.
With this initiative, Katara Hospitality and AccorHotels aim at creating the number one sustainable hospitality fund dedicated to Africa, bringing support to job creation, training, transfer of skills, local supply chain and communities in the region, operating in compliance with UN sustainable development goals.
The announcement came during a signing ceremony between Katara Hospitality and AccorHotels and was attended by His Excellency Sheikh Nawaf bin Jassim bin Jabor Al-Thani, Chairman of Katara Hospitality and Mr. Sébastien Bazin Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AccorHotels.
A Look at Africa’s Project Pipeline
With this announcement in mind, it’s worth looking into what’s happening elsewhere and all throughout Africa.
With that in mind, let’s take a look into the TOPHOTELCONSTRUCTION project pipeline, specifically at which countries have the most projects that are currently in the works.
The top two countries for the biggest hotel growth is Egypt at number one with 52 projects coming soon, and Morocco with 41 hospitality projects that are underway. The rest of the list actually then does bring us into sub-Saharan African countries, which is what the fund is concerned with.
Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Kenya round out the list of the top five countries for the project pipeline according to TOPHOTELCONSTRUCTION’s database.
Nigeria currently has 29 hotel projects coming soon, while Ethiopia has 22, and Kenya has 13 projects coming soon.
