Business
Marriott acquires Africa’s largest hotel chain Protea
US hotel giant Marriott announced on Wednesday it had finalized a deal to buy the Protea group, Africa’s largest hotel chain, for US$186 million.
“Marriott and Protea plan to close the transaction on April 1, 2014,” the firm said in a statement.
Based in South Africa, Protea manages 10,148 rooms in 116 hotels in 8 African countries including: Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia.
The Nasdaq-listed Marriott Group has 3,900 properties around the world and is worth around US$15.5 billion at current market prices.
After the deal was announced, Protea CEO Arthur Gillis told reporters that he expected Marriott to “sprinkle professionalism” on top of an already well-functioning business.
“One cannot compare the resources of a company with 120 hotels with the resources of a company with 3,900 hotels.”
The deal gives Marriott a formidable position in a rapidly growing African market, nearly doubling its footprint in Africa to 23,000 rooms.
