KHI Ghana

completed

The project consists of a $26 million loan to Kingdom Hotel Investments (KHI) for the development of the 5-star Mövenpick Ambassador Hotel (“the hotel”) in Acrra, the capital city of Ghana. KHI is owned by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Alsaud (Prince Walid) of Saudi Arabia, and is an international operator in the hospitality and leisure business. The company has hotels and resorts located in Asia, Middle East, North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. IFC has an existing investment with KHI for the refurbishment and rebranding of several hotels in Kenya. The hotel is located on Independence Avenue, one of Accra’s major thoroughfares and situated adjacent to several large commercial developments which form part of the city’s central business district. The site was previously occupied by the Ambassador Hotel, a gift from the United Kingdom to Ghana in recognition of the country’s independence in 1957. The Ambassador Hotel ceased operations in the early 1980’s, and in 2005 KHI obtained a lease from the Government for the 67,000 m2 site, along with approval to construct a new hotel. Given the original Ambassador Hotel was in a state of disrepair, the structure was demolished to facilitate development of the new Mövenpick Ambassador Hotel. Construction activities commenced in 2008 with completion of the hotel anticipated in April 2011. The hotel has 259 guest rooms and includes 9,000 m2 of office space and 1,260 m2 of retail space. An area has also been allocated for construction of apartment units which is to commence once the hotel is operational. KHI commissioned Dar-Al-Handasah, a company specializing in architectural design, engineering and project management to design the hotel and undertake quality assurance during project implementation. A joint venture between a local construction company and an Italian company were commissioned by KHI to construct the hotel. Once finalized, the hotel will be operated by Mövenpick Hotels and Resorts (Mövenpick), a global hotel management company.