Addis Fortune (Addis Ababa)
Yohannes Anberbir
1 September 2008
Three more international companies have signalled their interest in co-owning Ghion Hotel with the government.
Dhabi Group, TATA International and Union Blessed Limited have joined SSO Property Ltd in putting themselves forward for the joint venture, according to Daniel Benti from the Privatization and Public Enterprises Supervisory Agency (PPESA).
Dhabi Group is based in Abu Dhabi and has a large number of subsidiaries that operate in the industrial sector in the United Arab Emirates and Iraq.
TATA International are an Indian investment group that opened an office in Addis Abeba on July 16, 2008. The company was established in 1962 and had a turnover of 850 million dollars in 2006/07. TATA submitted its business plan for what would be its first venture into the hospitality industry to PPESA two weeks ago. The group currently has investments in leather, engineering and pharmaceutical companies.
The third international firm to have shown its interest is Israeli consortium, Union Blessed Limited, but it has yet to submit its business plan to the agency.
Union Bless is a consortium engaged in real estate business in Asia, South America and Israel.
Daniel said: "We expect the business plan of the Israeli consortium at the end of the coming week and I think the final decision will be made within a maximum of three months."
SSO Property Limited, a consortium of prospective investors from Nigeria and Dubai, were the first to express interest when they submitted a detailed plan in April 2008. The company wants to take up to a 70pc share in the hotel and invest 200 million dollars in its renovation.
According to Costantinos Berhe (Phd), the group's local partner, the project would rechristen the Ghion as the Imperial Hill. He said the new five-star hotel would have 250 rooms, a 2,000 seat convention centre, a new Ethiopian restaurant, a health and spa centre, 230 apartments, and a mall with cinema inside.
"We are intending to make a huge investment in the hotel although I do not know that of the others," he told Fortune. "Entering into the hotel business is very risky, but we decided to get in".
Constantinos added that the global hike in prices means a larger investment than the 200 million dollars would now be needed.
Ghion Hotels Enterprise was established by the government in 1951 to operate a chain of 11 hotels, which are all found in north Ethiopia, except the Addis establishment.
Despite operating old hotels with rundown facilities in many of its properties, including in the capital, Ghion had an after tax profit of 10.6 million Br in 2004.
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