Dennis-The Estate Agent

18/09/2026

18/09/2026

Neil Markovitz has sold a majority stake in Newmark Hotels & Reserves to Banyan Group, handing the Singaporean operator 26 hotels, lodges and game reserves across seven African countries. The price has not been disclosed. The properties sit in South Africa, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Mauritius. Markovitz is staying on as chief executive with his existing management team, and Banyan says day-to-day operations, property branding, owner relationships and commercial arrangements will remain unchanged, with Newmark keeping its own name as a collection brand.

He founded the company in 2007, having worked in Cape Town hospitality since 1990, including a spell as general manager of the Victoria & Alfred Hotel, a converted 1904 warehouse overlooking the harbour and Table Mountain that was the first hotel to open at the V&A Waterfront and later became one of his own properties. What he built from there is unusual in African hospitality: Newmark manages rather than owns, so it grows on other people's capital, and it runs properties as distinct businesses rather than folding them into a single brand. The portfolio ranges from city hotels to the QWABI and Motswari private game reserves, Future Found Sanctuary in Cape Town, and Gorilla Heights Lodge in Uganda.

That structure is what the buyer wanted. Eddy See, Banyan's president and chief executive, called Africa a long-term growth market and said Newmark strengthens what the group calls its asset-right model, running hotels without tying up capital owning them, while its local market knowledge and development pipeline combine with Banyan's international distribution. Deputy chief executive Ho Ren Yung said the group wants each property to keep the character that shaped its success, particularly in wildlife hospitality. Banyan already had four hotels and spas in Morocco, Mauritius, South Africa and Tanzania, and the deal takes it to nearly 130 properties across 28 countries.

Read full story in comment.

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