With the recent acquisition of Four Points By Sheraton Hotel Lagos, Actis, a private equity house and Westmont Hospitality Group, a Canadian investment firm, are eyeing larger market share of the Nigerian hospitality sector using the Marriot branded hotel as flagship property.
The new owners acquired the 231-room hotel recently for $16 million, plus the assumption of an undisclosed amount of debt, from Oceanwinds Hospitality Limited (OHL), hitherto owned by Asset & Resource Management (ARM), sources familiar with the matter told BusinessDay.
They also announced their intention to collaborate with credible partners in acquiring hospitality assets across sub-Saharan Africa using Four Points By Sheraton Lagos as its base in Nigeria.
“This is a very neat fit for our respective needs and ambitions in the region”, Funke Okubadejo, director at Actis in Lagos, said.
“Hospitality is capital intensive and requires an experienced trusted partner able to handle the operating aspects. Westmont has a fantastic reputation as an operating partner and franchisee for some of the most prestigious hotels in the world and Actis has unparalleled experience investing in Africa. We are very excited about the potential of this venture together,” Okubadejo said in a mail response to BusinessDay.
On the other hand, Ewan Cameron, director of Development (Africa) at Westmont, said “Westmont has committed to expanding its hospitality investments in Africa, and is delighted to have partnered with Actis on the acquisition of Four Points Lagos.
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We look forward to collaborating with Marriott to ensure Four Points Lagos fulfils its potential to be the preferred business hotel at the heart of Lagos’ Victoria Island.”
Presently, the Four Points by Sheraton, which is no small brand, has over 200 hotels in nearly 40 countries around the world and is looking to expand its portfolio of rooms by more than 50 percent in the next five years.
According to a source at Marriot International Nigeria, the managers of the brand, Marriot is interested at seeing Four Points By Sheraton Ikot Ekpene, Four Points By Sheraton Benin City and other three brands across the country take off on schedule.
“We have many pipeline hotels that are delayed due to lack of fund. If the developers here are willing, we will connect them with investors who have capacity to complete the project and share equity. That is better for their investment, help in expanding our brand and also the hospitality sector to grow”, the source said.
Speaking on the swift acquisition of the hotel, Onike Ajibade, hotel consultant, noted that there are many hotels on sale for over three years now that have not seen buyers. For him, Four Points by Sheraton Lagos was swiftly sold because of its good book keeping and management by Marriot, good location, exciting facility and service offerings for international business travellers.
Though Four Points senior staff declined comments on the deal, Morris Eche, a Starwood franchise owner, noted that the deal was good for both parties going by the pedigree of the new owners.
Actis has a long heritage of investing in Africa having committed $4.5bn to the region over the last 15 years, and Actis is the largest Private Equity Real Estate GP in sub-Saharan Africa.
Westmont, founded in 1975, is one of the world’s largest privately held hospitality groups having owned or operated over 1,100 hotels globally including hotels in Mozambique and Zambia.
Westmont has invested alongside institutional partners since 1993, representing over $9 bn of invested capital globally.
However, Ajibade noted that with the new investors, the Nigerian hospitality sector will witness another scramble as other brands will be looking for credible partners and investors to also expand their brands across the country and beyond.
OBINNA EMELIKE AND MICHEAL ANI
