Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Inc. (TSX/NYSE: FHR) has entered into a long-term management agreement with its strategic partner, IFA Hotels & Resorts, in the Fairmont Zimbali, a new golf resort scheduled to open in 2008, company officials have announced.
The luxury resort, in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal, will include a championship golf course, and spa and vacation ownership products, including Fairmont Heritage Place, officials said. IFA will invest more than $250 million in the project.
The strategic alliance between Fairmont and IFA began in Dubai with the development of Fairmont Palm Island, and expanded into Africa in a joint venture between Fairmont, IFA and Kingdom Hotel Investments with the recent acquisition of a Kenyan hotel portfolio.
An owner/operator of luxury hotels and resorts, FHR manages a portfolio of 88 properties with approximately 33,000 guestrooms in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, Barbados, United Kingdom, Monaco, Kenya and the United Arab Emirates as well as two vacation ownership properties managed by Fairmont Heritage Place. FHR owns Fairmont Hotels Inc., North America's largest luxury hotel management company, as well as Delta Hotels, Canada's largest first-class hotel management company.
IFA Hotels & Resorts is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kuwait's International Financial Advisors, and is known for its development of integrated and mixed-use hotel and tourism resort projects throughout Europe, the Middle East, the Indian Ocean and Africa. IFA Hotels & Resorts aims to link its resorts in Dubai, South Africa, Zanzibar, Lebanon and Portugal to new parts of the globe, such as Mauritius, Eastern Europe and the Far East.
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