Ipic Properties buys 16 hotels in portfolio expansion

The acquisition of Country Hotels takes Ipic Properties beyond its Western Cape retail base into hospitality, adding 638 rooms across the Western and Northern Cape.

• Ipic Properties has acquired Country Hotels, adding 16 hotels and lodges with a combined 638 bedrooms to its property portfolio.
• The deal takes Ipic beyond its established Western Cape retail portfolio and significantly expands its investment footprint into the Northern Cape.
• Country Hotels will retain its brand, management and staff, with long-standing COO Craig Carmichael appointed CEO under the new ownership.

Ipic makes its move into hospitality

Western Cape property investment group Ipic Properties is making a significant move into hospitality with the acquisition of Country Hotels, a portfolio of 16 hotels and lodges across the Western and Northern Cape.

The transaction represents an important diversification for Ipic after more than two decades of building its investment base predominantly around Western Cape retail property.

Country Hotels brings 638 bedrooms across 16 properties into the wider Ipic investment portfolio, while providing the group with immediate scale in an entirely new property sector.

It also materially expands Ipic’s geographic reach into the Northern Cape, giving the group exposure to a collection of regional hospitality markets stretching from Clanwilliam and Calvinia to Springbok, Upington, Kathu, Kuruman and Postmasburg. The acquisition price has not been disclosed.

16 properties and 638 bedrooms

Founded in 2011, Country Hotels has developed a network of accommodation assets serving regional business travellers, tourists and local communities.

The portfolio comprises:

• Clanwilliam Hotel
• Calvinia Hotel and Tankwa Lodge
• Springbok Inn and Namastat Lodge
• Orange River Rafting Lodge, Vioolsdrif
• Pofadder Hotel, Inn and Lodge
• Kakamas Hotel
• Upington Inn
• Kathu Inn
• Kuruman Lodge, Hotel and Inn
• Postmasburg Inn

Together, the portfolio provides 638 bedrooms across 16 hotels and lodges. For Ipic, the acquisition provides an established operating hospitality platform rather than requiring the group to build a hotel business from scratch. That distinction is important.

Country Hotels already has an established brand, operating team and presence in the communities in which its properties operate.

Country Hotels brand and team remain

Ipic does not intend to overhaul the business following the acquisition. Country Hotels will retain its existing name, managers and staff, providing continuity for employees, guests and the communities served by the properties.

That continuity is also reflected in the appointment of long-standing Chief Operating Officer Craig Carmichael as CEO of Country Hotels. Carmichael began his hospitality career in 1995 and has served as Country Hotels’ COO since 2021, bringing extensive operational experience into the next phase of the business.

“Country Hotels has built a strong presence in the communities it serves, and continuity will be important as we move into this next phase.”

He said the focus under the new ownership would be on strengthening the existing business rather than fundamentally changing what has already been built.

“Our focus will be on strengthening that foundation, investing in the guest experience and maintaining consistently high standards across the portfolio.”

That suggests Ipic’s immediate strategy will centre on improving and growing the existing platform while retaining the operational knowledge already embedded within Country Hotels.

From Western Cape retail to a broader property portfolio

The acquisition represents a notable strategic step for Ipic. Founder Rian Maartens, a UCT MBA graduate, established the company in 2004 with the acquisition of Soneike Shopping Centre in Kuils River.

Over the following 22 years, Ipic expanded into a portfolio of 10 Western Cape retail properties comprising more than 65,000m². The Country Hotels transaction changes that profile.

Instead of remaining concentrated predominantly in Western Cape retail, Ipic now gains exposure to a second operational property sector while substantially extending its geographic footprint.

For Maartens, the expansion into the Northern Cape also carries a personal connection. His grandfather, Giel Steenkamp, was a headmaster in Pofadder during the 1930s, one of the towns in which Country Hotels operates.

A different type of property investment

Hospitality introduces a different investment and operating dynamic from traditional retail property. A shopping centre’s performance is largely driven by factors such as rentals, occupancy, tenant mix, footfall and lease structures.

Hotels combine the underlying property asset with an active operating business. Returns are therefore influenced by occupancy rates, room rates, tourism and business travel, operating efficiencies, customer experience and regional economic activity.

By retaining Country Hotels’ existing management and staff, Ipic gains access not only to the physical properties but also to the operating platform and hospitality expertise required to run them.

This could prove particularly important as the group assesses opportunities to grow the portfolio over time.

Ipic’s long-term growth ambitions

Ipic describes itself as a private property investment company whose leadership team has more than 100 years of combined industry experience. The company also takes a notably long-term approach to capital growth.

According to Ipic, friends-and-family capital invested with the business has, on average, doubled approximately every four years since its establishment.

The company says this represents 54.8 times growth since inception as at February 2026, against its long-term ambition of achieving 1,000 times growth within 40 years of its founding.

The Country Hotels acquisition now adds a new platform through which Ipic can pursue that longer-term growth strategy.

Community remains part of the strategy

The acquisition is also about more than expanding the group’s balance sheet. Many of the Country Hotels properties operate in regional towns where hotels play an important role in the local economy, supporting employment, tourism, business travel and surrounding suppliers.

Ipic says it intends to build on Country Hotels’ existing community and charitable initiatives in the areas where the group operates. Retaining existing staff and management should also provide continuity in towns where Country Hotels has established long-standing relationships.

What the deal means for Ipic

For Ipic Properties, the acquisition represents more than the addition of 16 properties. It marks a strategic broadening of the business.

The group moves from a portfolio concentrated in Western Cape retail into a combination of retail and hospitality, while gaining significant exposure to the Northern Cape for the first time.

It also acquires immediate scale: 16 established properties, 638 bedrooms, an existing brand and an experienced management team.

The next question will be how Ipic deploys capital into the portfolio, whether through refurbishment, operational improvements, expansion of existing properties or further acquisitions, and whether Country Hotels becomes the foundation for a substantially larger hospitality platform.

After more than two decades of building its retail property portfolio, the transaction signals that Ipic’s next phase of growth could look considerably different from its first. For investors watching South Africa’s private property market, that makes this more than a hotel acquisition.

It is Ipic’s first major step towards becoming a broader, more geographically diversified property investment group.