Sun InternationalGroup is a South African gaming and hospitality company founded by Sol Kerzner. The Group [1] owns diverse assets including the iconic Sun City Resort near Rustenburg in the North West Province, The Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town, and online gaming platform, SunBet.co.za. Specialising in gaming, hospitality and entertainment, the company owns 42.5% of the South African casino market[2] and owns or holds a significant interest in 11 out of 38 operating casinos in South Africa.[3] Sun International Hotels is headquartered in Sandton, Johannesburg.[4] It was incorporated in South Africa in 1967.[2]
History
Their hotel business traces its roots back to 1967, when the Southern Sun Hotel Company was created when South African Breweries and South African businessman Sol Kerzner joined forces. By 1983, Southern Sun Hotels was operating 35 hotels, and generating a net income of $35 million.[4] At this time, South African Breweries split its hotel interests into two and Sun International, headed by Sol Kerzner, retained all of the casino hotels located in the areas that South Africa had designated as "independent homelands" and had Southern Sun as a 20% stakeholder. Sol Kerzner sold his shares in Southern Sun to focus on Sun International (South Africa). Southern Sun retained the company's other hotels in South Africa, and remained focused on the hotel market rather than casinos. 1984 saw the commencement of Kersaf Investments Limited, a company that took great interest in Sun International (South Africa). This commencement was by a scheme of arrangement, such that Sun International would form one of Kersaf's subsidiaries.[2] Kersaf was more focused on cinemas, restaurants, shopping and leisure at first, but as the next twenty years passed, its hotel and casino interests thrived under the Sun International brand, and slowly Kersaf began to dispose of its other interests and acquire more share in Sun International.[citation needed]
After the end of Apartheid in South Africa in 1994, the so-called homelands were re-integrated into the new South Africa. This allowed Southern Sun to develop its own gaming resorts and began to compete increasingly with Sun International. In 2000, Southern Sun sold its stake in Sun International to Kersaf Investments Limited, who then continued to acquire minority interests in Sun International.[2] In 2004, Kersaf Investments Limited merged with Sun International to form Sun International Limited, the company that exists today.[5] In early 2015, Sun International sold its hotels in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Zambia to Minor International.[6] Since mid-2015, these have been run as hotels of the Avani Group.[7] As of 2023, Sun International Limited owns or is involved in 13 hotels, casinos, and resorts.[8]
Properties
Sun CityHotel Monticello in Chile
Today, Sun International's operations include integrated resorts, luxury hotel products, limited payout machine slot routes, as well as casinos.
R11.27B (2022)
