The Ministry of Public Enterprises has received the final draft document for the price valuation of Hilton Addis Hotel, The Reporter has learnt.
It is to be recalled that the Hotel was among public enterprises said to be fully transferrable to private ownership. The Hotel is expected to be up for auction in the current fiscal year.
In line to its privatization plan, the Ministry has commissioned a price valuation assessment to be done by Industrial Project Service (IPS). The Service, which is a public enterprise itself, has more than 30 years of experience in consultancy, mainly in relation to project preparation and implementation. It specializes in areas of operations including manufacturing, agro-industry and service sector.
“We have already submitted the final draft of our assessment to the ministry,” source from IPS told The Reporter.
An official from the Ministry confirmed the completion of the valuation but failed to disclose the details of the study.
Following the submission of the draft document, the Ministry in turn gave its comments on the document and resubmitted it to the IPS.
“Once we look into the documents, we will finalize the assessment report,” said the same source from IPS.
Following the finalization of the assessment, the Ministry is expected to auction Hilton Addis Hotel before the end of this fiscal year.
According to the ministry’s annual plan, Hilton is among the 10 enterprises to be placed on the auction block via different tender mechanisms.
The Ministry has already managed to transfer Assela Malt Factory at a total cost of 1.34 billion birr, this year. In addition, the Enterprise also transferred 30 percent stake in the Ethiopian Tobacco Enterprise to Japan Tobacco with a total cost of USD 434 million, in the same year.
In this regard, within half a year alone the Ministry has collected 12.7 billion Birr surpassing the plan to collect 1.7 billion in revenue from the transfer of publicly owned enterprises.
As far as the private acquisition of Hilton is concerned, a number of investors both domestic and international have already showed interest to buy the Hotel. In this regard, it is to be recalled that Ethiopian Airlines Aviation Group has proposed to take over Addis Ababa Hilton Hotel as well as Ghion Hotel.
The Hotel, given its prime location and other factors, is a very valuable asset, Zemedeneh Negatu, Global chairman of Fairfax Africa Fund, told The Reporter.
“We, along with our partners have interests to acquire the Hotel so we will bid for it. According to our assessment, the hotel needs a lot of investment when it comes to refurbishment,” said Zemedeneh.
First opened in 1969, Hilton Addis is situated on 60,000 sq.m plot at prime location in the city. It has one 12-story building with over 400 rooms.
The Hotel was first established with 50-year management contract between Hilton Worldwide and the then Ethiopian government. At the time, Hilton World Wide was given 20 percent revenue share.
In related news, in a bid opened on April 16, 2018, four companies have showed their interest to jointly develop the tantalum mines located in Kenticha, Borena Zone of Oromia Regional State.
The Ministry declined to disclose the identity of the companies stating that the disclosure might compromise future negotiations.
The bid seeks winning companies to develop, upgrade and expand the kenticha lithium – tantalum pegmatite deposit for mining and add value by concluding joint venture contracts with the ministry.
