Minor Hotels has signed a strategic partnership with The Cavaleros Group to manage a hotel in Johannesburg. This marks the debut of Minor Hotels’ NH Collection brand on the African continent.

From July 1, the group will manage the hotel in Sandton, the financial district of South Africa’s largest city. The 329-key property will first operate as NH Sandton and subsequently, following an extensive refurbishment of the property, will be rebranded as NH Collection Sandton.

Once refurbished, this iconic hotel, in operation for 30 years, will offer a range of guest room categories including lead-in rooms, suites, one-bedroom suites and the 145 sqm Royal Suite. Facilities at the property will include two restaurants and two bars, an executive lounge, conference facilities, in addition to a gym and large outdoor swimming pool.

The Cavaleros Group is one of the largest privately owned property groups in South Africa, with its core business being the investment and development of data centres, commercial, industrial, hospitality and retail properties, both locally and internationally, and is a leading and respected member of the local and international property industry, having assembled and growing a portfolio of institutional-quality assets.

William Heinecke, Chairman and Founder of Minor International, parent company of Minor Hotels, said: “We are thrilled to sign this strategic partnership with The Cavaleros Group to launch NH and soon NH Collection in South Africa and with it launch our first property in the country. This property will join our growing portfolio of hotels in Africa, where our Anantara, Avani and Elewana brands are already present. We look forward to a long and fruitful partnership with Penny and the Cavaleros team.”

Penny Cavaleros, Chief Executive Officer of The Cavaleros Group, said: “The decision to partner with Minor Hotels is legendary step for The Cavaleros Group. We, as a Group, identified certain asset classes within the property sector which we will aggressively pursue, hospitality being one with exponential growth into the African continent.”

She highlighted that, over the past three years The Cavaleros Group had engaged with all international hotel groups and concluded and recognised that Minor Hotels’ history, speed and culture were synonymous with its core Group values. 

“We are currently considering several hospitality opportunities across the continent and have commenced our due diligence process,” noted Cavaleros.