Uganda's Madhvani Group has acquired the Umubano Hotel in Kigali, Rwanda for $20 million.
The East African nation had been seeking an investor to acquire the property for the past four years. The Libyan government, which owned the majority stake in the hotel, failed to renovate it.
Parasuramn Eswar, corporate affairs director at the Madhvani Group, said that the company now owns the hotel outright, and will oversee renovation. Company officials are currently doing due diligence ahead of the full take-over next month.
Madhvani, which also owns Kabuye Sugar Works in the Kigali's neighborhood, wanted to invest in the country's tourism sector, Eswar said.
This could be a smart move: According to the Rwanda Development Board, tourist arrivals in the country have increased from 1.26 million in 2014 to 1.3 million in 2015. This led to a surge in the earnings from $305 million to $318 million during the same period.
With the Umubano Hotel, Madhvani now owns eight hospitality properties. The company owns four hotels in Uganda (Silver Back Lodge, Mweya Safari Lodge, Chobe Safari Lodge, and Paraa Safari Lodge) and three in Kenya (Aberdare Country Club, The Ark, and Mara Leisure Camp).