Kasada Hospitality Fund receives financing to refurbish Nairobi hotel
Kasada Hospitality Fund receives financing to refurbish Nairobi hotel
The IFC and Proparco have committed a financing package to the Kasada Hospitality Fund.
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The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Proparco have committed a financing package to the Kasada Hospitality Fund which will inject new life into a 206-room hotel in Nairobi, Kenya. In addition, MIGA, a member of the World Bank Group, will provide political risk insurance to the project.
Kasada will use the financing package to refurbish, modernise, and expand the former Crowne Plaza in Nairobi’s Upper Hill, a business district that hosts embassies, international organisations, and the headquarters of some of East Africa’s largest corporations. Following this revamp, the property will re-open as a dual branded Pullman and Mercure property and also include a co-working space under the brand WOJO.
The financing package includes an $11 million loan from IFC and an $11 million parallel loan from Proparco. In addition, MIGA will provide $27.5 million in political risk insurance to the project.
”IFC invests in the hotel and tourism industry because it is a major contributor to employment, foreign exchange earnings, and tax revenues. IFC’s partnership with Kasada is supporting the development of a strong and resilient hospitality sector across key markets in Africa including Kenya,” said Henrik Elschner Pedersen, IFC regional industry director in Africa for manufacturing, agribusiness, and services.
The financing is part of a broader partnership announced in July 2021 between the Kasada Hospitality Fund and IFC, where IFC committed to invest up to $160 million in Kasada’s fund to help it build a strong and resilient hotel portfolio across sub-Saharan Africa as the industry recovers from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on tourism and business travel.
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