Zimbabwe-focused investment group, Cambria Africa Plc. has announced its intentions to sell off the Leopard Rock Hotel and Casino in Vumba, in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe.
Cambria Looking for Attractive Offer
Cambria Africa has announced that they will sell if they get an attractive offer.
"We are an investment company and at all times we have the obligation to sell if an attractive offer is put before us for any of our investments, provided it comes from a responsible party," read an email statement from the company.
"At the same time, we similarly are obliged to pursue all potential investment opportunities where there is an opportunity to enter at an attractive valuation, provided an appropriate long-term risk reward trade-off can be achieved."
The intention to sell comes only five years after Cambria acquired the property in April 2009 for $8.5 million. Soon after, the company also acquired the Castle at Leopard Rock, the adjacent property, for EUR550,000. Two years later, in 2011, Cambria renovated the property with significant renewals and restorations.
The four star hotel, originally build in the 1940s by Seymour-Smiths, is located on 1,850 hectares of land. It features 58 rooms and suites, a casino, an award-winning golf course, a gaming area, a swimming pool, tennis courts, a gym and a number of eating facilities including restaurants, bars and buffets. The casino is open daily for gaming and features more than 75 slot machines and video poker games and eleven table games which include blackjack, roulette, punto banco and chemin de fer.
Cambria Selling Off Non-Core Assets
GECR, an independent research company in the UK released a report advising that Cambria would begin selling off non-core assets and the sale of Leopard Rock Hotel falls into that category.
"Cambria has announced that it requires funding for the expansion of Millchem and Payserv as well as for the group’s working capital, and we expect that this additional funding should come from the sale of its non-core assets, including the Leopard Hotel and certain industrial properties, as well as settlement of its aircraft dispute, and the raising of additional equity and/or debt capital," explained GECR.
Millchem and Payserv are two core investments for Cambria. Millchem is a chemicals distributor in Zimbabwe, with an increasing presence in Zambia and Malawi. Payserv Africa is a payments processing business that operates primarily in Zimbabwe, but is increasingly moving into the regions of Southern and Eastern Africa.
