Marriott International has finalised its deal to acquire Protea Hotels, a South African firm with 116 properties across three brands.
The agreement nearly doubles the US giant’s distribution in Africa to more than 160 hotels and 23,000 rooms.
In addition to its 80 hotels in South Africa, Protea Hotels comes with properties in Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
Arne Sorenson, Marriott International’s president and CEO, said: “Today marks a new beginning. We look forward to integrating the superb Protea team into the Marriott International family, and together, to work toward new opportunities for growth and advancement throughout South Africa and the continent.”
As part of the deal, Protea Hospitality Holdings has created a property ownership company to retain ownership of the hotels it currently owns and enter into long-term management and lease agreements with Marriott for these hotels.
It also retains a number of minority interests in other Protea managed hotels. Marriott now manages approximately 46 per cent of the rooms, franchises approximately 40 per cent of the rooms, and leases approximately 14 per cent of the rooms.
Marriott first announced it planned to acquire Protea Hotels late last year (see news, November 8).
marriott.com, proteahotels.com
Graham Smith
