CDC is investing EUR46 million in ONOMO Hotels, a 3-star hotel group targeting African business travellers crossing the continent. The new investment will boost foreign exchange revenue, support the growth of a thousand jobs across the region, and build the hotel infrastructure to make business easier in some of Africa’s challenging regions.

Established in 2009, ONOMO Hotels is an African hospitality company that designs, develops, owns and manages hotels. The company currently operates eight hotels, including seven it owns (Dakar, Abidjan, Lomé, Bamako, Cape Town, Sandton and Conakry) and one that it manages (Libreville). It has two new openings scheduled by early 2018 in Kigali and Durban.

CDC's investment is part of a fundraising of EUR106 million alongside Batipart, the current owner of ONOMO, a family office with a 30-year long track record in real estate investments and operating platforms, and CM-CIC Capital, the international private equity investment arm of Credit Mutuel CM11 Group, a leading French banking and insurance group.

The Clifford Chance team in charge of advising CDC on this matter was led from Casablanca by Mustapha Mourahib, partner and Co-Head of the Africa Practice, with the assistance of Gauthier Verdon and Aolaia Snaïba, associates, on the corporate M&A aspects. In London, the Clifford Chance team was composed of Nigel Wellings, partner, and Jennifer Mbaluto, associate, on the corporate M&A aspects, and Alex Nourry, partner, and Jennifer Storey, associate, on the antitrust aspects. In Paris, the Clifford Chance team was composed of Alexandre Couturier, partner, and Gabriel Dalarun, associate, on the real estate aspects.