Owner of Sun City
Sun International Ltd. will pay 675 million rand (US$42.8 million) to rival South African hotel casino operator Peermont Global after its attempt to buy the company fell through.
According to Bloomberg News, the deal foundered because of antitrust concerns.
Sun International, owner of the Sun City resort near Johannesburg, had agreed to pay up to 900 million rand to Peermont if the deal failed and a new resort at Menlyn Maine in Pretoria began operations. Peermont had filed a legal objection to the capital city project before a deal was made to consolidate with Sun International.
If the deal had closed, Sun would have added resorts including Johannesburg’s Emperor’s Place. But South Africa’s Competition Commission recommended the deal be blocked due to its potential effect on the gaming market in Gauteng, South Africa’s richest province, Bloomberg reported.
Sun International, owned by Sol Kerzner, has a portfolio of 26 resorts in Africa and the Americas, including a casino in Panama. Peermont is owned by a private equity group led by the Mineworkers Investment Company. It owns 16 hotels in South Africa, Botswana and Malawi.
