Thom McLachlan

Media Correspondent

NEW hotel portfolio Queensgate Hotels and Leisure plans to raise R100m in capital to increase its investment in leisure businesses after listing on AltX at the end of this month.

“We have reached our capacity as a private company and, with our interests mainly focused in Western Cape, we would like to gain a wider footprint,” Queensgate Holdings CEO Andrew Hubbard said.

Queensgate Holdings will reverse list into Cyberhost, an AltX-listed company. Cyberhost would give up its name to allow Queensgate Leisure a spot on the index at the end of the month.

Hubbard said the company would raise the initial R219m required for the transaction from private and institutional investors. He said the group would then raise a further R100m to acquire more leisure interests. He expected it to have a market capitalisation of about R400m at the time of listing.

The group has acquired shareholder approval, a s well as the go-ahead from the JSE. It is, however, awaiting approval from the competition authorities for a 50% stake in Queensgate Holdings which Mvela Holdings bought.

Mvela’s R60m acquisition was made by way of preference shares and it will, on Queensgate’s listing, maintain a minimum stake of 26% as the company’s empowerment partner.

Mvela Holdings CEO Mark Wilcox said the group had longstanding ties with the company through a management contract with Cape Town’s Radisson Hotel, which falls under the Queensgate portfolio of investments.

Source: Business Day