Kasada Hospitality Fund Embarks On Hotel Projects
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The IFC and Proparco have approved a combined loan of US$22 million to the Kasada Hospitality Fund to expand the Crowne Plaza hotel in the Upper Hill neighbourhood of Kenya’s capital city Nairobi.
Kasada will use the financing to refurbish, modernise and expand the hotel, which it acquired in July 2022. The fund will also target EDGE green building certification for the property.
Following the revamp, the hotel will re-open as a dual-branded Pullman & Mercure property and also include a co-working space to cater to a growing demand in the market for more flexible workspaces, according to Kasada.
The financing package includes a US$11 million loan from the IFC and a US$11 million parallel loan from Proparco. In addition, the World Bank’s MIGA will provide US$27.5 million in political risk insurance to the project.
The loan agreement is part of a broader partnership announced in July 2021 between Kasada and the IFC, in which the corporation committed to invest up to US$160 million in Kasada to help it build a strong and resilient hotel portfolio across sub-Saharan Africa as the industry recovers from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on tourism and business travel.
The MIGA guarantees are part of a master contract issued by the agency in 2021 to cover Kasada’s equity investments in the redevelopment and construction of hotels in Sub-Saharan Africa.
“This asset is about to enter a new life cycle and contribute to the revitalisation of the Kenyan hospitality sector post the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Olivier Granet, Kasada’s managing partner and CEO and David Damiba, Kasada’s managing partner and CIO, in response to the funding announcement on 20 December.
Kasada, which was established with the support of the Qatar Investment Authority and French hospitality group Accor, has also made progress on hospitality projects in other Sub-Saharan African countries in recent months.
On 14 December 2023, the fund announced it had teamed up with South Africa’s Ingenuity Property Investments to redevelop the City Park building in Cape Town’s central business district.
The redevelopment of the property, which used to house the Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital, includes building a 122-key lifestyle hotel, as well as 40-60 branded residences available for sale on a sectional title basis, 8,000 square metres of office space, 3,500 sq m of retail space, three restaurants, a co-working facility and over 1,000 parking bays.
“This partnership marks a significant milestone in our commitment to reshaping the inner city and commerce in Cape Town,” said Arnold Maresky, CEO of Ingenuity Property Investments, remarking on the partnership.
Over in West Africa, Kasada announced plans in early 2023 to build a new dual-branded hotel in the Angre district of Cote d’Ivoire’s capital Abidjan. The hotel would be developed within a larger retail and office park being undertaken by HC Capital Properties, a privately-held real estate investment firm with a focus on West and Central Africa.
Scheduled to open in 2024, the park is being built across a 5-hectare site and will include over 150 hotel keys, a shopping centre with over 60 stores, restaurants, a mini-entertainment park, offices, a co-working space and a clinic.
“With this combo hotel, we are targeting the economy and extended stay segment to provide an attractive offer at the right price, in the heart of a high-density area,” said Kasada’s CIO Damiba during the project announcement in January 2023.
Photo: Crowne Plaza Nairobi (Source: Crowne Plaza)
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