Ohlthaver & List Group has consummated its marriage with Middle East’s IFA Hotels & Resorts by forming Heike Forty One Investments, a Namibian registered company.
Heike Forty One Investments will be the company that will build the two five-star hotels in Windhoek and Swakopmund. The company is owned 50-50 by both O&L group and the Kuwait based IFA Hotels & Resorts group through its South African subsidiary.

“Heike Forty One Investments will, after the construction, own the two hotels, the Mokuti and Kings Den lodges,” Henry Feris, MD of Namib Sun Hotels Group, told the Economist.
All properties will be branded with the Kempinski brand, which will operate the hotels.
O&L clinched a N$550 million deal in April this year with IFA Hotels & Resorts and Kempinski. The move will bring value to the Namib Sun Hotels group which until now owned the two lodges, the Strand Hotel in Swakopmund, Thuringerhof hotel in Windhoek, and Midgard Lodge.
Thuringerhof and Midgard Lodge will remain with Namib Sun Hotels for the time being.
Feris also told the Eocomist that space has been found for the five-star hotel in Windhoek. “It is along Independence Avenue site opposite the City of Windhoek buildings,” he said. Construction of the hotels is scheduled for the first quarter of 2008. “However it must be cautioned that a lot of work still needs to be completed including the design and approval processes by the City of Windhoek,” he said. Completion of the hotels, both in Swakopmund and Windhoek, scheduled for third and fourth quarter of 2009 respectively.
Mokuti Lodge will also undergo some upgrading before the Kempinski group start with operations. The King Den Lodge needs a complete refurbishing and this can only happen once the leasehold conditions have been renegotiated and clarified to ensure that long-term investment is possible, said Feris.