Real estate company Jones Lang Laselle (JLL) has announced its plans for expansion in sub-Saharan Africa to include hotel service and has appointed Xander Nijnens as head of hotels and hospitality for the region
Nijnens, who is a regional industry expert, will focus on providing a sector-specific advice in sub-Saharan Africa and will function out of Johannesburg. He will partner with Mark Bradford, chairman of regional Sub-Saharan Africa at JLL, to serve the firm’s current and prospective client base as well as integrate with JLL’s 100-strong EMEA hotels and hospitality team.
In addition, Nijnens will assist clients in a suite of services including strategic consulting, transactional advisory, corporate structuring, operator selection, management contract negotiations, feasibility studies and asset management.
Nijnens said, “Sub-Saharan Africa is an exciting and emerging region for the hotels and hospitality industry with a highly diverse sector across the region. In establishing a presence, we aim to facilitate cross-border capital flows into the sector and assist in attracting investment into the region for our global and regional clients. JLL has an excellent track record of assisting clients in both emerging and developed hotel markets and I am excited to be able to bring this level of expertise to this region as well.”
Mark Bradford, chairman of sub-Saharan Africa, said, “We see the expansion of our hotel service in sub-Saharan Africa as an excellent opportunity to provide clients with advice across the real estate asset classes. JLL has identified sub-Saharan Africa as a priority region for long-term growth and we have seen an exceptionally positive response from our global clients to our regional offering.”
According to officials at JLL, there is favourable interest in the region for hotel development, as investors and developers are showing keen interest to enter the market. Jon Hubbard, head of investor services EMEA for JLL Hotels & Hospitality noted that JLL has provided advisory and transaction services to clients in 22 African markets and felt that the establishment of an office in Johannesburg would allow the company to further develop on-ground expertise for clients.
