A number of hospitality enterprises in which state-owned Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) has a stake on have been hard hit by the Covid 19 pandemic.
The hospitality industry has been one of the most impacted by Covid 19 in Botswana with early estimates showing that average occupancy rate dropped from 53 percent between December 2019 and June 2020 to 23 percent.
One of those affected it’s the Peermont Global (Botswana) Limited where BDC has equity shareholding of 40 percent. The group assets were valued at P60 million as at 30th June 2019.
Another well known BDC investment is at Cresta Marakanelo Limited with an equity shareholding of 27 percent. The valuation of the group has been pegged at sixty-seven million eight hundred and eighty-three thousand three hundred and forty-three Pula.
BDC also has 30 percent stake at Mashatu Nature Reserve (Pty) Ltd valued at Ninety-Seven Million Seven Hundred and Forty Thousand Pula at 30th June 2019.
BDC is reported to have invested P266.6 million in the hotel industry to mitigate the negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
BDC chief executive officer (CEO), Cross Kgosidiile, has acknowledged that operating in today’s economy presents its own set of challenges, including constrained growth and liquidity challenges.
Kgosidiile says BDC has an opportunity to transform the Botswana economy by investing in diversified sectors and large-scale businesses that provide returns for the corporation and contribute significantly to the economy.
