Kenya City Billionaire Puts 8 Hotels up for Sale

Date: September 2018

Location: Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Tsavo, Samburu, Maasai Mara, and Amboseli, all in Kenya

Name: Sentrim Hotels

No. of Keys: 350 rooms in form of tents, cottages, and hotel units, located on over 130 acres.

Seller: The Sentrim Hotel portfolio owned by Jac Patel, a Kenyan- Indian billionaire investor, has been put up for sale.

The firm has contracted property agent Knight Frank to oversee the process. According to Knight Franks Head of Agency Anthony Havelock, the entire portfolio is being sold in excess of Sh5 billion shillings (around £38m). Interested buyers can buy the whole portfolio or bid for individual property.

“The directors are approaching retirement age and there is no one within their family willing to inherit the property hence the reason for the sale,” Havelock said.

The Sentrim portfolio comprise three unique prime city investment and redevelopment properties and five well located lodge/tented camp properties,” said Knight Frank in an advertisement posted in newspapers on Thursday.

This includes the 680 Hotel located at the Nairobi Central Business District, Boulevard Hotel on the fringes of the central business district along Harry Thuku Road, Castle Royal Hotel situated in Mombasa along Moi Avenue, and Elementaita Lodge on the shores of Lake Elementaita.

Others are Samburu Lodge in Samburu National Reserve in Northern Kenya, Sentrim Tsavo located in Tsavo East National Park, Sentrim Mara located in the Maasai Mara Game Reserve, Sentrim Amboseli located in the Amboseli National Park and Sentrim Samburu located in Samburu National Reserve.

The hotels are likely to attract several potential buyers, including high-net-worth investors, as well as hospitality groups that are active in the country’s tourism market.

Hotel chains in Kenya are increasingly facing pressure from ultra-affluent clients who demand special service.

Kenya and South Africa are tipped as the next continental hotspots in luxury hotel investment.

A report released at the World Travel Market exhibition held in London last November said the investment would be underwritten by continued flow of top-dollar clients to the region.

“South Africa and Kenya are expected to register strong growth in luxury hotels as Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be popular with luxury travellers,” said Euromonitor International’s Top 100 Cities Destination Ranking 2017 report.

Although another 2018 hospitality report released by Jumia Travel shows that most local brands are facing competition from international hotel brands that have set up in the country.

The report shows that atleast 13 new international hotel brands are scheduled to open branches in Kenya in the next five years, adding 2400 rooms and expanding the hotel capacity by 13 per cent with a 2.5 per cent compound annual increase in available rooms.

The list includes global brands such as Accor Hotels, Hilton, Carlson Rezidor, and Acacia Premier. Nineteen hotels are also expected to come to Kenya shortly, with a total of 3,453 new rooms in the pipeline, according to a report by Lagos-based consultancy W-Hospitality Group.

The sale of Sentrim hotels is coming a week after another Indian billionaire family led by Rajesh and Dhruv Pandit placed the iconic Emperor Plaza building in Nairobi on sale for Sh750 million.

Guide Price: Ksh 5billion

Price per Key: Ksh 14,285,714 (£108,000)

THPT Comment: With such interest in the area/Kenya, this opportunity should sell quickly.

First Seen: Kenyans.co.ke