City Lodge Hotel Group concludes deal to own entire Courtyard Hotel Portfolio

The City Lodge Hotel Group has concluded an agreement with HPF Properties Proprietary Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hospitality Property Fund, to acquire Hospitality’s interest in the Courtyard Hotel portfolio for a cash consideration of R80 million.

In an announcement issued via the Stock Exchange News Service, City Lodge said all conditions precedent to the sale have been fulfilled and that the sale will be effective from May 1, 2015.

The sale agreement involves Hospitality’s 50% interest in: Gallic Courtyard (Arcadia) Share Block Proprietary Limited; Gallic Courtyard (Bruma Lake) Share Block Proprietary Limited; Gallic Courtyard (Rosebank) Share Block Limited; Gallic Courtyard (Sandown) Share Block Limited; and its 50% share in five sectional title units at Courtyard Hotel Sandton and one at Courtyard Hotel Rosebank.

This transaction means that the City Lodge Hotel Group will wholly own these hotels as from May 1. Courtyard Hotel Port Elizabeth is already wholly owned by the group.

Explaining the rationale for the deal, City Lodge CEO, Clifford Ross, said: “The Courtyard Hotel brand is an integral part of the City Lodge Hotel Group’s portfolio of brands and complements our strategy of providing quality accommodation options in the one star to four star business and leisure traveller markets in South Africa.”

The group has 52 hotels in South Africa across the Courtyard Hotel, City Lodge Hotel, Town Lodge and Road Lodge brands. It also has a Town Lodge in Gaborone, Botswana, a Town Lodge in Nairobi, Kenya, and also owns the Fairview Hotel in Nairobi.

Under construction currently are the 148-room City Lodge Hotel Newtown in Johannesburg and the 90-room Road Lodge Pietermaritzburg. The group has also announced expansion plans to build new hotels in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam and is in negotiations that may lead to further hotels in Windhoek, Kampala and Maputo.