Dubai: Emaar Hospitality will expand its operations into sub-Saharan Africa, opening its first hotel in the region this year.
The new Address Hotel 2 Février Lomé, in the West African state of Togo, will be a reflagging of a Radisson Blu property that opened in 2016.
It is unclear why the Kalyan Group, a Togolese conglomerate with ties to the government and the hotel’s concession owner, severed its relationship with the Carlson Rezidor group, the hotel’s operator, and owner of the Radisson Blu brand.
Ashok Gupta, the CEO and founder of Kalyan Group, said that his company was involved in legal proceedings with Carlson Rezidor over the breakdown of the deal, but refused to discuss the details of the lawsuit, such as who initiated the proceedings, and in which court they were being heard.
Following the divorce, the Kalyan Group has partnered with Dubai’s Emaar Hospitality to operate the property, which was originally built in 1980, as an Address hotel, it announced at a press conference in Dubai on Wednesday.
Gupta’s previous company Getax, where he served as a director, was reportedly under investigation previously for a number of years by the Australian Federal Police as part of a probe into allegations of international bribery and money laundering, spanning India, Australia and Singapore.
Due diligence
The businessman vigorously denied all accusations on Wednesday morning, calling them “totally untrue.”
For his part, Olivier Harnisch, the chief executive of Emaar Hospitality, told Gulf News that Emaar took such claims very seriously, and had conducted thorough due diligence as a result.
“For us it’s very important to work with credible partners … We choose our partners very carefully, and we did the same in this case,” Harnisch said.
The new hotel, which will occupy the tallest building in Togo, is set to open “shortly,” according to Emaar, and will offer 256 rooms and suites, in addition to 64 serviced apartments.
