South African tycoon Neil Markovitz sells Newmark stake

Neil Markovitz has sold a majority stake in Newmark Hotels & Reserves to Banyan Group, handing the Singaporean operator 26 hotels, lodges and game reserves across seven African countries.

The price has not been disclosed. The properties sit in South Africa, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Mauritius.

Markovitz is staying. He continues as chief executive with his existing management team, and Banyan has said day-to-day operations, property branding, owner relationships and commercial arrangements will remain unchanged, with Newmark keeping its own name as a collection brand.

He founded the company in 2007, having worked in Cape Town hospitality since 1990, including a spell as general manager of the Victoria & Alfred Hotel. That building is a converted 1904 warehouse overlooking the harbour and Table Mountain, it was the first hotel to open at the V&A Waterfront, and it later became one of the first properties in his own portfolio.

What he built from there is unusual in African hospitality. Newmark manages rather than owns, which means it grows on other people’s capital, and it runs properties as distinct businesses rather than folding them into a single brand. The portfolio ranges from city hotels to the QWABI and Motswari private game reserves in South Africa, Future Found Sanctuary in Cape Town, and Gorilla Heights Lodge in Uganda.

That structure is precisely what the buyer wanted.

Eddy See, Banyan’s president and chief executive, called Africa a long-term growth market and said Newmark brings an established management business, long-standing owner relationships and operating capability that strengthen what the group calls its asset-right model, meaning it runs hotels without tying up capital owning them.

He also pointed to something Markovitz has that no foreign operator can buy quickly. Newmark’s local market knowledge and development pipeline, combined with Banyan’s international sales and distribution network, give the group a stronger platform to pursue opportunities across the continent.

Markovitz framed it as reach rather than exit. Newmark spent nearly two decades building through strong teams, trusted owner relationships and a portfolio where each property keeps its own identity, he said, and joining Banyan gives greater international reach and access to a wider network of expertise while retaining what made the business work.

Ho Ren Yung, Banyan’s deputy chief executive, said the group wants to preserve the local approach, particularly in wildlife hospitality where culture, communities and the natural environment are part of what guests are paying for, and wants each property to keep the character that shaped its success.

The properties stay bookable directly through Newmark’s own website and will move onto Banyan’s platforms over time, joining its guest rewards programme.

Banyan already had four hotels and spas in Morocco, Mauritius, South Africa and Tanzania, including Ubuyu, its first safari lodge, which opened recently. The acquisition takes the group to nearly 130 hotels, resorts and reserves across 28 countries.