Banyan Group buys 70% of Newmark to add 26 African safari lodges
The deal values the Cape Town operator at roughly 756 million South African rand, and Banyan is paying about $33 million in cash for its initial holding.
Banyan Group has agreed to buy a 70% stake in Newmark Hotels & Reserves, a Cape Town-based operator of 26 hotels, lodges and private game reserves. The Singapore-listed hospitality group, best known for its Banyan Tree resorts, has a path to full ownership of Newmark over the next several years, according to a filing with the Singapore Exchange.
The transaction values Newmark at approximately 756 million South African rand, or about $47 million, roughly 28 times the company's EBITDA. Banyan is paying around 533 million rand, or $33 million, in cash for its initial 70% holding, with the remainder contingent on Newmark's future performance.
Full ownership hinges on Newmark hitting a stabilised EBITDA target of 63 million rand, or $3.9 million, by fiscal 2029, a figure more than double what the company currently earns, making the earn-out a genuine stretch rather than a formality tacked onto the price.
Newmark brings more than 1,300 rooms spread across seven African countries, plus management contracts, owner relationships and local market knowledge rather than freehold property. That fits what Banyan calls its "asset-right" strategy, a hybrid model of owning some hotels outright while managing others for third-party owners.
With Newmark folded in, Banyan's portfolio grows by roughly a third, to nearly 130 hotels, resorts and reserves spanning 14 brands across 28 countries. Newmark itself will continue operating as a collection brand within that wider Banyan structure rather than being absorbed or renamed.
Why the deal is asset-light
The acquisition is structured to add fee income rather than bricks and mortar, consistent with Banyan's broader shift away from capital-heavy ownership. Newmark's contracts with lodge and reserve owners across Africa hand Banyan management fees and distribution reach without the balance-sheet weight of buying land or buildings outright.
That structure matters because it lets Banyan expand into an unfamiliar market, African safari and nature tourism, while limiting upfront risk. The deferred consideration tied to the 2029 EBITDA target further shifts risk onto Newmark's own performance rather than Banyan's balance sheet from day one.
The Newmark deal extends that identity into a geography where the group has had no meaningful presence.
Who Banyan will compete against
Entering African safari and nature hospitality puts Banyan against established local operators and global groups already active in the region, including Marriott's Protea brand and Radisson. Africa's tourism sector is growing, and the region's private game reserves and lodges have drawn increasing interest from international hospitality groups seeking new fee-generating footholds.
We have tracked a run of similar majority-stake moves across luxury this year, from Authentic Brands taking control of Drake's OVO to Henkell Freixenet's move on Cassidy Wines, each reshaping ownership without a full buyout upfront. Banyan's structure, a 70% stake with deferred earn-out terms, follows that same pattern of staged control.
We have also covered The Safari Collection, another operator in the African lodge space, giving us a point of comparison for how independent safari brands are being valued and absorbed by larger hospitality groups as international operators press further into the continent's private reserves.
The deal is Banyan's most significant push into Africa as a long-term growth market, rather than an opportunistic one-off purchase. Africa's game reserves and lodges have historically been run by regional specialists, and Newmark's local ownership relationships are precisely what a management-fee model like Banyan's needs to scale quickly.
Banyan has not disclosed how it intends to help Newmark close the gap to that 2029 target, whether through new management contracts, added distribution via Banyan's existing sales channels, or cost efficiencies across the combined portfolio. The filing sets out the target and the price but not the operational plan behind reaching it.
What is clear from the Singapore Exchange filing is the timeline: the earn-out clock runs to fiscal 2029, giving both companies a fixed point at which Banyan's ownership either completes or the deferred payment is reassessed against Newmark's actual performance over that period.
Until then, Newmark keeps its name and its 26 properties trade under that collection brand while reporting into Banyan's wider group. The next disclosure to watch is Newmark's progress toward that 2029 EBITDA figure, the number on which the rest of the deal now turns.
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