By Catherine Sasman
WINDHOEK
A joint venture agreement between Ohlthaver & List’s Namib Sun portfolio and IFA Hotels & Resorts South Africa, will for the first time introduce five-star luxury hospitality to Namibia. The 50/50 venture is valued at approximately N$550 million.
The yearlong negotiations between the partners culminated in the signing of an agreement at the posh Zimbali Lodge on the KwaZulu Natal north coast on Tuesday this week. The development involves the building of two five-star hotels. One will be a new hotel in Windhoek in the area of the old brewery in the city. The Swakopmund project will see the demolition of the Strand Hotel, to be replaced by a brand new medium-sized 70-roomed hotel with beach and garden views of the Atlantic Ocean.
Another project is the refurbishment of the King’s Den Lodge on the bank of the Chobe River in north-eastern Caprivi, with access from Botswana and Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. Also under this agreement, the Mokuti Lodge in the Etosha National Park will have new extensions with refurbishments to its old section.
The Mokuti project is envisaged to commence in July this year. The Strand Hotel, said Executive Chairperson of O&L, Sven Thieme, will be demolished in January next year, with building work to start shortly thereafter. The Windhoek commercial hotel project is likely to start towards the end of the year. It will have 100 rooms with 23 compartments, and hold business and conference centres and a fitness facility.
“This project will add value to the hotel development in Namibia,” said a visibly excited Thieme at the conclusion of the agreement. “We want to create a product from the desert to the Chobe. The big benefit is that we will be creating prime property. This will make it very attractive from an investment point of view. Nationally, it means that we create a five-star destination for high-end tourists.”
For IFA HR, this is the latest investment in Africa. It is a world leader developer of premier integrated and mixed-use hotel and tourism resort projects throughout Europe, the Middle East, the Indian Ocean region and Africa. It got listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in February last year, and on the Kuwait Stock Exchange it has a capitalization of US$2 billion.
“This is the first of many strategic partners in Namibia,” commented Werner Burger, President of IFA HR. “We have strongly aligned interests for long-term partnerships. Ohlthaver & List is at the forefront of the Namibian private sector and as such provides not only a platform for our initial entry into Namibia, but also represents future opportunities for our company to expand further into this growing market.”
Through the venture, IFA HR also introduced Kempinski Hotels, Europe’s oldest luxury hotel collection that will operate all four of the joint venture hotel properties. The group has 68 hotels in its stable. A delegation from this group is already in the country to look at the marketing network, and will do skills analysis.
“The entry of these two high-profile companies to Namibia will not only help increase our profile on the global travel and tourism stage, but will also contribute to business growth that significantly support our socio-economic wealth and living conditions,” commented Thieme.
According to Thieme, the current staff of the Namib Sun will be retained, with appropriate training from the Kempinski group to upgrade their skills levels in accordance with the envisaged changes.
“We cannot afford four-star service at a five-star hotel. The current staff will get greater opportunities to work for a prestigious establishment and will obviously be trained,” he said. An estimated 150 jobs will be created with this new venture.
“We are ready to make big moves,” added Thieme. “Namibia has become very interesting [to tourists] and this development will entrench us on the map as a world class tourism destination.”